90 tons of new gold reserves explored in Iran last year

TEHRAN,May 23(MNA) - Some 90 tons of new gold reserves were discovered in Iran in the past calendar year, which ended on March 19, said the deputy head of the Geological Survey of Iran. Behrouz Borna told 23 tons of proven reserves and 67 tons of probable reserves were explored last year. The new reserves are located in Kordestan and Sistan-Baluchestan provinces, west and east of the country, respectively, he added. On April 10, Borna announced that three new gold reserves have been discovered with 16 tons of proven net gold deposits. The Fars News Agency quoted Borna as saying that the value of newly discovered gold reserves was around 850 million dollars. With this breakthrough, Iran's total gold reserves have increased to 320 metric tons, the official added. Iran holds three percent of the world's mineral reserves, putting it first in the Middle East and third in Asia, Borna added. He said that Iran has about 68 kinds of minerals, and 20 other types of minerals have been identified through recent explorations. Iran's mineral produce include coal, metallic elements, sand and gravel, chemical minerals and salt. It has the world's largest zinc reserves, holds the second largest copper deposits and ranks ninth for its iron reserves.