Secretary General of Tehran Chamber of Industry and Mines: Gold mines are part of the Iran-China cooperation agreement

The Secretary General of the Tehran Chamber of Industry and Mining says that mines, including Iranian gold mines, are part of investment contracts between Iran and China according to the "25-Year Cooperation" document.

In an interview with "Tojarat News", Shahram Shariati emphasized that from the past to the present, China's contracts with the Iranian government have been non-transparent for the private sector, saying: "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 a government contract, and the private sector is not informed of the content of the contract and its news."

Bahram Shakuri, head of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce's Mining Commission, also stated that the private sector was not informed about the details of the 25-year Iran-China contract, and told Tejarat News that "if the Chinese are going to exploit gold mines as before, only the government sector is aware of the details."

Mr. Shariati says that the Chinese have been working in Iran's gold mines for a long time, but since the gold mines with the largest reserves are in the hands of the state sector, private sector activists still do not know what decisions have been made for gold mines in the 25-year Iran-China cooperation document.

A report by Tejarat News indicates that the definitive gold reserves in Iranian mines are currently 250 tons.

The 25-year cooperation document between Iran and China, which has been declared "confidential," was signed on April 27 between the foreign ministers of the two countries, and the Iranian government says it does not want to disclose its contents because the Chinese side is unwilling to disclose its text.

Source: Radio Farda