“If we’re going to cancel all the golden signatures, it is necessary to create a complete electronic and clear system.” Said the Deputy Minister for Mining and Mineral Industries’ Affairs in the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade.
According to the Mining Investment Insurance
Corporation’s public relations, quoting from SHATA, Dariush Esmaili said in a
TV show called “Titr-E-Emshab” on Islamic Republic of Iran News Network: “the
final confirmation by customs, instead of the Ministry of Industry, Mine and
Trade, is just a replacement, and would not mean there wouldn’t be any more
golden signatures. In such a structure, in case the quality of the ore be
better or worse, it would be automatically confirmed or rejected, and people would
not be the ones to decide.”
Pointing out the President’s order to clear the
conditions of the blocked mines, the Deputy Minister said: “the whole point was
to bring back into the production cycles the mines which have extraction and
production licenses but are suspended. There have been issued 11000 production
licenses, but 4500 of the mines are inactive at the moment.”
About why these mines are inactive at the moment
the Deputy Minister continued: “Some of these mines are dealing with natural
environment problems at the moment. For example, the primary extraction has
taken place, and the mine needs the confirmation from the Department of Natural
Resources to start working in the new quarry. Another problem could be that
some of the mines are located in regions which are announced ‘protected areas’
and the mine needs new licenses to continue its activities. Among other
problems one can also name the need for processing industries and machinery,
and the mines have stopped working since they cannot afford them. Some other
mines are facing problems such as the absence of a proper market for their
products, and so it is not profitable for them to work at the moment, and it
happens sometimes that the owner of the production license is not financially
supported enough to start the job. With the order from the President and the
efforts of the Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade, soon the condition of
these mines would be cleared.”