Based on exploratory studies and excavations carried out in the area of Janja anomaly, the storage source of about one billion tons of copper ore with an average grade of 0.21 percent copper and 0.23 grams per ton of gold has been discovered, of which with a grade of 0.2 percent, about 312 million tons with an average grade of 0.26 percent copper and 0.25 grams per ton of gold and a 4 to 1 waste disposal ratio can be extracted economically. According to the annual extraction plan, the operating volume of the mine is about 75 million tons, including 60 million tons of wastes and 15 million tons of minerals, and considering this amount of extraction, the life of the mine is calculated to be about 20 years.
The operation of this mine will be assigned to this consortium in the form of a long-term contract and from the contractual point of view, the Mines and Metals Development Company will be committed to constructing and operating a copper concentrate unit with a capacity of at least 13,000 tons. But in this regard, a thorough study of the downstream industries of copper, gold related industries should be done to clarify the future prospects for investment in this area. Meanwhile, the formation of copper and gold value chains in different areas of the province, including downstream industries such as construction industry, electricity industry, agricultural industry, medical industry, etc. is the most important solution to solve the problem of unemployment and wealth production in the province.
Economic development, increase of employment, and welfare for the people of the region are among the effects of the implementation of this plan, which will take place along with the development of the mine and the construction of processing units. Janja mine is one of the biggest copper projects in the southeast of the country, which needs infrastructure such as electricity, water, etc. to be provided, which with the sum of these activities will cause the development of the province. On the other hand, copper is a base metal and one of the most widely used non-ferrous metals, which has many uses including transportation of military industries, shipbuilding, construction such as copper pipes in plumbing, electrical, pharmaceutical, agricultural, automotive industry, and is one of the most widely used metals in future electric vehicles, etc., and affects many downstream industries and creates employment and development in the region.
The value of the annual production of this project will be between 350 to 400 million dollars, which of course is significant due to the low grade of copper and operating and extraction costs, but there will be plans so that by benefiting from the experts’ competence and the best technologies of the world in order to increase the efficiency of the project, it has a desirable outlook for the shareholders and the people of the region.
Saheb-e Saqez iron ore mine is one of the mines in the west of the country, the area of which is 400 hectares and has 5 million tons of definite reservoir of magnetite. According to the exploitation license, the annual extraction of 300,000 tons of iron ore with the current grade of about 40% will be for 10 years, which according to the plan of the company, iron ore production with a grade of about 50% will be sent to the concentrate and pellet plant of Mining and Metals Development in the west (Sabanour). The main goal of the Mines and Metals Development Company in the short term is to supply feed to the concentrate plant and then new discoveries in order to achieve higher reserves for the development of the steel chain in the west of the country.
One of the strategies of the Mines and Metals Development Company is the steel chain development in the west of the country. In general, this chain includes the extraction of iron ore from the mine and then its conversion into concentrate and its entry into the steel sector, and finally into the rolling sector and other sub-industries. In this regard, in Hamedan and Kurdistan region, mining and metals development programs include the production of 5 million tons of concentrate, 5 million tons of pellets, and 23 million tons of steel. In case of positive exploratory results, good support will be provided for the project. At the same time, the implementation and development of the steel chain will lead to a fundamental change in the province, including the creating employment opportunities and added value.
In general, steel and steel industries, as the mother industries of each country, play an important role in the country’s economy. In addition, steel has an impact on the industrialization of countries and also plays a very important role in the reconstruction and development of the country. One of the most important benefits of the steel industry is employment opportunities and indirect development in downstream industries. For example, studies have shown that Mobarakeh Steel Company of Isfahan has directly and indirectly created employment opportunities for 350,000 people.
The goal of the Mines and Metals Development Company is to create added value in the field of mining and related industries. This group is trying to be effective in order to complete the steel chain in the country, considering the high potentials including valuable iron ore reserves in the west of the country and has adopted this approach in order to establish balanced development, especially employment opportunities and wealth creation in less developed regions throughout the country. Therefore, in addition to considering the interests of shareholders, who are in fact the people, the company always takes steps towards sustainable development at the national level with a trans-company perspective.
