Tehran- Tabas Parvadeh Coal Co., Iran’s Only Mechanized Coal Unit

Portfolio and financing manager of Sadr Tamin Investment Company (TASSICO), Mohsen Behzadi, said in an interview with Bourse-e Emrooz that coal, as an energy supply, played a part in the production of products in the world.

About 90 percent of 4bn tons of the cement produced in the world were produced in coal-fired cement factories, he said and added, that more than 50 percent of China’s petrochemical industries were based on coal, and more than half of the world’s power plants rely on coal as fuel.

Given that such major industries fire coal as fuel, the increasing importance of the coal industry would be realized, Behzadi told Bourse-e Emrooz on Wednesday, October 11.

TASSICO’s portfolio manager regretted that due attention was not paid to the coal industry as the production did not meet domestic consumption despite that Iran enjoyed valuable gas reserves.

“Unfortunately, four coking production units in the country are operating below capacity, and on the other hand, there has been no development in this regard in recent years,” Behzadi noted.

The lack of mechanized mines (apart from Tabas Parvadeh Coal Company) affected the productivity of the industry, he said, adding that mandated pricing, complexity and poor access to technology, the inability to export, had made investing in this sector a high-risk move.

Behzadi noted that considering the gas (production-consumption) imbalance led to significant losses, and on the other hand, the problem of power outages or imposed restrictions, the country’s industry was facing problems.

“In such a situation and given the country’s important and strategic coal reserves, Iran can make up for the gas imbalance [by using coal as fuel],” the director suggested.

“Coal is a fuel with high pollution, but without a doubt, it has less or at least equal pollution compared to other fossil fuels such as diesel”, he argued.

It was worth considering that, he said, the rare elements could be extracted from the ash resulting from the coal combustion in power plants. Behzadi predicted that Iran would inevitably join the field given the current world trend, stressing that coal and its growing use in different industries were regarded as a solution for sustainable energy supply.

Referring to the status of Tabas Parvardeh Coal Company, Behzadi said that the company, a subsidiary of Sadr Tamin Holding, was the only mechanized coal operator in the country with an annual production of 700,000 tons of coal concentrate.

Also, covering an area of ​​over 30,000 square kilometers, the company had the richest and largest coal region of Iran with a proven reserve of 75.2bn tons of coal that could be used for coking and making thermal coal, he added.

Pointing to Sadr Tamin Holding’s future plans in this regard, he said that the high capacities of Tabas Coal Company would allow the holding to outline development plans in a good and desirable way to tap its potential.

About such valuable reserves, Sadr Tamin Holding was considering a development plan to increase the capacity of coal concentrate by 400,000 tons in the first phase and another development one titled purchasing the second set for longwall mining to prevent any halt in production during the overhauls, Behzadi explained, adding that one of the future plans of the holding, which was under negotiation now, was the construction of a coal-fired power plant in Tabas.

The portfolio manager of Sadra Tamin Company noted that Esfahan Steel Company, as the first and largest producer of steel products in the country, was accumulating losses mainly due to the import of its needed coal.

The development plans in Tabas Coal Company could not only meet the country’s domestic needs, but also complete the chain and improve part of the energy imbalance, especially in the gas field, he said. It would also be able to contribute to the profitability of Esfahan Steel Company, the official clarified.

The manager said that coal could play a significant role in supplying energy and mitigating the gas imbalance, and Sadr Tamin Investment Company was targeting to complete the coal chain for the development of Tabas Coal Company and the use of Esfahan Steel Company as well as coal-fired power plants and extraction of rare elements.