The volume suggests a 97.1% increase compared with last year’s corresponding period.
According to Fars News Agency, mines in Khorasan Razavi Province topped the list of payments with 2.18 trillion rials ($17.92 million), followed by Kerman Province with 1.52 trillion rials ($12.47 million) and East Azarbaijan with 882.72 billion rials ($7.23 million).
As Minister of Industries, Mining and Trade Reza Rahmani told IRNA, close to 500 million tons of minerals were extracted in Iran during the last Iranian year (March 2018-19), Financial Tribune reported.
There are currently 5,800 active mines in Iran.
Deputy Industries Minister Jafar Sarqeini says the value of Iran’s mineral production will reach $22 billion by the end of the current Iranian year (March 19, 2020).
The country produced $20 billion worth of mineral products in the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2019).
According to Sarqeini, $9 billion of the total production last year were exported, as the remaining $11 billion were consumed by domestic industries, IRNA reported.
The official expects exports to hit $10 billion this year.
Iran has the largest area under mineral exploration in the Middle East, according to Deputy Industries Minister Khodadad Gharibpour.
According to the United States Geological Survey, Iran holds the world's largest zinc, ninth largest copper, 10th largest iron ore, fifth largest gypsum and barite, and 10th largest uranium reserves.
Overall, Iran is home to more than 7% of global mineral reserves.
Iran is home to around 55 billion tons of mineral reserves, about 33 billion tons of which are proven, the head of Geological Survey and Mineral Exploration of Iran said.
Alireza Shahidi added that a total of 450 million tons of minerals were extracted from mines in Iran during the last Iranian year to register a 10% year-on-year rise.