Minister: Iran's Alumina Industry Flourishing Irrespective of Sanctions

Iranian Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade Reza Rahmani expressed pleasure that the country's alumina industry is keeping its way towards further progress and production despite the harsh US sanctions.

"Alumina production is important to us, and the industry has continued its way in the past 1.5 years (after re-imposition of the US sanctions)," Rahmani said on Wednesday, addressing the inauguration ceremony of 42 East Azarbaijan industrial projects via a video conference.

Everything is possible for this strategic metal, alumina, to be produced in Sarab, he said, referring to the supply of 3 million cubic meters and 400 megawatts of Neflin- Sinit of Sarab.

Alumina and copper supplementation can affect the industry in the region, Rahmani said.

He added that the annual production of aluminum is 450,000 tons and some more 300,000 tons will be added this year hitting the country's general output to 700,000 tons.

Iran seeks to increase annual output of aluminum to more than 800,000 tons by March 2022 while more than $11 billion will be attracted in investment to bring the figure to 1.5 million tons by 2025.

Production at three major smelters in Iran, namely Iranian Aluminum Company (IRALCO), the Hormozal Aluminum and Almahdi Co. totaled 103,593 tons between late March and late August 2019.

Late in May, it was announced that two giant Iranian aluminum companies had produced more than 20,000 tons of ingots in the first month of the local calendar year (March 21-April 21).

Production of aluminum ingots in IRALCO and Almahdi Aluminum Corporation exceeded 20,400 tons in the time period.

According to statistics, IRALCO accounted for about 75 percent of the country’s total aluminum production volume.

Early in March, Iranian First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri underlined Washington's failure in sanctions against Iran's metal industries.

"The US was after metal sanctions against Iran but it failed to trouble the country's industries," Jahangiri said, addressing a ceremony in the Northeastern city of Semnan on March 09.