Verification of the discovery of lithium reserves in western Iran
Verification of the discovery of large lithium reserves: Will Iran’s position in the international system change?
Last week, Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mine, and Trade announced the discovery of two mines in Hamadan province with a reserve of 8.5 million tons of lithium ore. Some media outlets also reported these reserves as 85 million tons of pure lithium and based on these two international estimates claimed that Iran holds the fourth largest lithium reserves in the world, and in another report, it was announced that Iran owns the second largest lithium mine in the world.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Minister of Industry of Iran claimed that the discovery of lithium reserves in Iran is for the first time.
This is while 10 years ago, the then head of the Geological Survey and Mineral Explorations of Iran announced in December 2012 the discovery of the rare element lithium in the southern and northeastern regions of Iran.
Considering that Iran’s Ministry of Industry referred to the discovered 8.5 million tons of lithium as lithium ore, the pure reserves of this country will be much lower than this figure.