Iranian Senior Analyst of Global Iron Ore and Steel Markets stated: “Cooperation between Iran and China in the field of mining and mineral industries is being formed soon”.
Keyvan Jafari Tehrani announced an early memorandum of understanding between Iran and China in the field of mining and mineral industries in a Mining Virtual Conference which held by “Madan24 Media” on Tuesday DD 19th January, 2021 in Tehran.
In this regard, Jafari Tehrani told to “Mine & Metals Website”: For the first time, a memorandum of understanding between Iran and China in the field of mining and mineral industries is being formed. This contract is being implemented following the order of the Supreme Leader of Iran and at the discretion of the country”.
Senior global markets analyst added: Dr. Ali Larijani is the Chairman of the Iran-China cooperation agreement and China is supposed to invest up to $ 450 Billion in various sectors in Iran, of which $ 80 Billion will be in the mining and mineral industries.
He added: “Numerous negative news reports have been made over the past year regarding the 25-years cooperation agreement between Iran and China in virtual networks and media, which is the result of incorrect information. If we believed that before Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPA), it was only the Chinese companies that invested in eight steel projects, one of which was later privatized, we would not be so negative”.
Jafari Tehrani said: “Perhaps in the above projects, the advisability of the country was not considered much from an economic point of view, but my point is that concluding previous expensive contracts has nothing to do with the new contract. We made a strategic mistake, willingly or unwillingly, after JCPA, so that the conclusion of new contracts with the Chinese side was stopped and we only signed contracts with the European parties, regardless of whether we should know that with the change of government in the US, tougher sanctions will return”.
“We lost our upper hand in the contract with China and we saw the result. The New Silk Road (BRI), which was to be one of the main routes from East to West China, was supposed to enter the cities of Almaty, Bishkek and Samarkand through the city of Urumqi, and then pass through North Khorasan Province of Iran and city of Tehran and through the provinces of Zanjan , East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan enter Southern Turkey and connect to Istanbul, changed course and crossed Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and the center of the Caspian Sea from Northern China, and entered Northern Turkey via city of Baku” Senior Global Markets Analyst said.
Jafari Tehrani continued: The other route of this road entered northern Pakistan through the city of Kashgar in Western China and was connected to the port of Gwadar in the Oman Sea. It should be noted that the air distance between Pakistan’s Gwadar port and Iran’s Chabahar port is only 75 kilometers. The road not only connected Northeastern Pakistan via the rail network to the Southwest and Islamabad, but also connected the country’s major cities due to Chinese investment in the rail network.
According to him, the reason for concluding such island form inappropriate previous contracts between various public and private organizations with the Chinese parties was that we did not have a comprehensive contract that takes into account the whole economy which resulted in fishing at Oman Sea seabed and recently bitcoin miners in Rafsanjan City.
Senior Analyst of Global Iron Ore and Steel Markets also said that the subject of the 25-years contract for the transfer of the Iranian islands to the Chinese parties and the stories that uninformed people publish by sending unreliable content on virtual networks is does not matter at all, but the issue of direct foreign investment based on FDI laws by China in Iran is our objective . “I do not enter into the discussion of the diversity of projects other than the field of mining and mineral industries here, and I only state that the conclusion of such agreements will employ about 5 million Iranians directly and indirectly in Chinese joint venture projects in Iran” Jafari Tehrani said.
He said: “All private and public organizations that are interested in participating in the Iran-China Mining and Mineral Industries Partnership project, provide me the list of projects that can be presented and also have the minimum preliminary feasibility studies or PFS and preferably FS as the representative of the Mining Committee, to be discussed in the Iran-China negotiating steering committee. Naturally, the relevant company will be invited to defend their project in the negotiations if required any”.
Our priority is to attract Chinese investment in new exploration as well as mining and processing to increase the role of mining in the country’s GDP and to replace mining with oil income, following the Supreme Leader’s motto,” said the Senior International Analyst of Mining and Mineral Industries.
According to Jafari Tehrani, projects should be submitted that can be offered internationally, and China is interested in cooperation in the fields of iron ore, steel, copper, aluminum, manganese, magnesium, lead and zinc, and in general metals, as well as rare earth elements. Of course, our priority is exploration, extraction and processing. This is a great opportunity for the country to present projects that can be offered internationally, and we will propose projects that are in the national interest of the country.
He concluded: “In the expert committee, the necessary audits of the projects will be carried out before referring the matter to the negotiating team, and we can attract a maximum of 80 Billion Dollars in projects for investment.”
Source: minesmetals