The partners are Russian Technologies, a state-owned engineering firm, and Iran’s Bank Saderat. That raised eyebrows around the world because Bank Saderat is under UN sanctions for aiding Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.
Reporting on the deal, the Moscow daily Kommersant said sources told it that Iran would provide “most” of the capital.
The project will develop a mine at Mehdiabad in Yazd province with known substantial resources. A substantial amount of test drilling has been done there, but no mine has yet been developed.
The Australian firm Union Resources was given a license to develop the mine in 2006. But it said its Iranian partners later severed some of the agreements over the project and the Australian firm then ceased pumping any funds into the project while trying to resolve the dispute.
Another Australian firm that studied the feasibility of the project estimated that the site holds recoverable resources amounting to 11.6 million tons of zinc, 3.3 million tons of lead and 124 million ounces of silver.
Kommersant said Russian Technologies would bring in a Turkish-Seychelles company, Kapsad International, to work the mine.
