Secretary General of Tehran Chamber of Industry and Mines: Gold Mines are Part of Iran-China Cooperation Agreement

The secretary general of the Tehran Chamber of Industry and Mines says Iran’s gold mines, including those with high reserves, are part of investment contracts between Iran and China under the “25-year cooperation agreement.”

Shahram Shariati, in an interview with “Trade News,” while emphasizing that China’s contracts with the Iranian government for the private sector have been non-transparent since the past until today, said: Iran’s gold mines with high reserves are mostly state-owned, and whether or not a contract is concluded in the technology, sales, and investment sectors, it is state-owned and the private sector is not informed about the content of the contract and its news.

Bahram Shokouri, head of the mines commission at the Iran Chamber of Commerce, also stating that they have not provided the private sector with information about the details of the 25-year agreement between Iran and China, told Trade News that “if the Chinese are to extract gold mines as before, only the state sector is aware of its details.”

Mr. Shariati says the Chinese have been working in Iran’s gold mines for a long time, but since most gold mines with larger reserves are in the hands of the state sector, private sector actors still do not know what decision has been made regarding gold mines in the 25-year Iran-China cooperation agreement.

Trade News reports indicate that the confirmed gold reserves in Iran’s mines currently stand at 250 tons.

The 25-year cooperation agreement between Iran and China, which has been declared “confidential,” was signed on the seventh day of Farvardin between the foreign ministers of the two countries, and the Iranian government says it does not want to provide information about its provisions because the Chinese side is unwilling to disclose the text.

Source: Radio Farda