Speaking on the sidelines of the signing ceremony of a cooperation agreement between the Iran Stone Association and the Iran Engineering Council in Tehran on Monday, Bahram Shakouri put the number of mining and mineral units for processing decorative stones in the country at more than 6,000, adding that they have generated employment opportunities for about 600,000 job-seeking people.
Given the high potential of accessible mines in the country, Iran has the high potential to export $5 billion worth of decorative stones overseas, he stated.
Between 10 and 11 million tons of decorative stones are annually extracted from mines in the country on average, he said, adding that effective steps have been taken in line with extracting more than 15 million tons of decorated stones.