Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct.9/ Trend G.Mehdi/
Iran produces 2-2.5 tons of gold per year, the Iranian deputy industry, mine, and trade minister stated, ISNA reported.
Vajihollah Jafari told ISNA that by November 20 a public tender will be held to transfer three gold mines to the private sector.
According to him 12 gold mines are being exploited across the country.
On September 13, the deputy head of Iran's Geology and Mineral Exploration Organization, Behrouz Borna, said that the country's total proven and probable gold reserves stand at 320 tons, the ISNA News Agency reported.
In April, Iran discovered three new gold reserves with 16 tons of proven net gold deposits.
The value of the discovered gold reserves was around 850 million dollars.
Iran holds three percent of the world's mineral reserves, putting it first in the Middle East and third in Asia.
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.
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