Official: Iran Enjoys 5 Billion Tons of Decorative Stone Reserves

“Iran produces about ten million tons of stone annually, 97% of which is processed and consumed domestically. The high consumption of stone in Iranian construction is remarkable compared to Europe, which uses more stone in urban furniture, parks, and public spaces. However, only three percent of Iran's production is exported to global markets which should increase,” Bahram Shakouri said.

He also underlined Iran’s efforts to reduce carbon production in the stone industry, adding, “Stone produces less carbon compared to products such as tiles and ceramics, and this advantage can increase the global appeal of this industry.”

The head of the Iranian Stone Association predicted that the activities of this federation would expand the global stone market by 30% to 40%, and that Iran would gain a stronger position in the global stone chain by exchanging knowledge, new technologies, and international experiences considering its five billion tons of decorative stones reserves.

In a relevant development in October, Iranian experts at a technological company in the Central province of Isfahan had managed to turn the waste of cutting stones into beautiful and valuable handicrafts for exports.

"A large volume of stone is turned into waste in mines and stone-cutting factories every year, which we turn into export handicrafts," said Amirhossein Shahpouri, the managing director of the company.

Noting that there are more than two thousand stone cutting factories active in Isfahan province, and a significant volume of stone is processed in these units, he said, “Based on figures, over 80 percent of the stone is turned into waste in the extraction process, and even in factories, over 50 percent of the incoming stone is turned into waste. This shows that a large part of the country's natural resources is lost in the processing cycle.”

“Iranian stones, especially from Isfahan, are of high quality and are even exported to neighboring countries. However, stone waste, which had no use, had become an environmental problem. For this reason, our main goal in establishing the company was to utilize this waste and turn it into value-added products,” Shahpouri said.

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