Mr Mustapha Badkoubeh is the Director of the Public Relations Department of Iralco, which is in charge of supervising and coordinating all that goes on in Iran with regard to aluminium.

Iralco is itself a subsidiary of Industrial Development and Renovation Organization which also has other subsidiaries for steel, copper, etc…, each dealing in one particular metal.

Events- What is so significant about aluminium?
Mustapha Badkoubeh- Aluminium is the metal of the 21st century. It is becoming even more important than steel because it is a very light metal and gives alloys that are very strong both in tension and compression. It is also very easy to recycle. And it is very friendly to the environment because it does not oxidize. You can never find rust or corrosion of any kind on aluminium surfaces.

For these and other reasons it is being increasingly used in various industries, in the building industry, in shipbuilding, in automotives, and most particularly in the aerospace, that is in aircraft, satellite and spacecraft constructions. A lighter car or ship or aircraft would need less energy to run it. This is why aluminium is finding
wider use every day. It is also extensively used in the packaging industry and particularly in packages that
contain medical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products; in tubes that contain ointments or pastes (e.g. toothpaste) and so on. Aluminium is also used to pack many products, such as chocolates, preserved foods etc.

Yet another significant property of aluminium, which not many people are aware of, and few people exploit in ordinary life such as in buildings, is its enormous reflective power. It is very effective in reflecting, i.e. diverting or sending back, light and heat. For example, if you cover the roof of your house with a thin layer of aluminium it will drive away the external heat in summer and keep back internal heat in winter. In this way it can save tremendous amounts of energy.



E- How advanced is our aluminium industry?

MB- Aluminium production requires a great deal of energy and Iran is blessed with huge fossil energy reserves,
gas in particular. We also have inexpensive manpower compared with most industrial countries, and we have good mineral reserves. So, we are at the right place to be an aluminium producing nation.

E- Do you mean that we are self-sufficient in the mineral materials needed for aluminium production? Didn’t we import the raw material in the past?

MB- We still do. At present we import 60% of the alumina we need, and the other 40% comes from domestic sources. But we expect to be self-sufficient in the future.

We have large reserves of bauxite which is the most usual mineral material for producing alumina. There are large deposits at Jajarm in Khorassan Province and we have deposits in Golestan and in Azarbaijan provinces. Our proven reserves should last another 25 years and our experts believe that our probable reserves, as estimated by them, will prove to be realistic in the large part, in which case our bauxite reserves shall last up
to 70 years from now.

Experts also believe that we can derive alumina from nepheline syenite of which we have vast deposits. There is a pilot project now underway to test this hypothesis. The project was inaugurated by the Minister of Industry and Mine some time ago at Sarab, in Azarbaijan.

Experts also think that alumina can be derived form alunite and they are presently carrying out tests and experiments in Karaj and Arak in the research and development departments. To put it shortly we are doing all
we can to become self-sufficient in this regard. The important thing is not to be dependent on external sources for our alumina needs.

E- Are we expanding the industry?

MB- Yes indeed. We have considerable resources as well as 30 years of experience in the field. These are important assets that should be put to work. This is why the Iranian industrial Development and Renovation
Organization, a subsidiary of the Ministry of Industry & Mine is determined to expand our aluminium industry.

Presently our main production plant is the Arak factory which was put into production in 1972. So, it is 30 years old…, the technology used is that of 30 years ago. Until 3-4 years ago it created so much pollution that
it was a serious threat to the environment. But our colleagues took measures that have reduced the level of pollution by 85%, through the use of filters and certain technological changes in the system. But we are still concerned about the other 15%.

However, instead of taking similar measures we intend to renovate the entire plant with the cooperation of a Chinese-Iranian joint venture: NFC of China and Technikan of Iran. In fact about 40% of the work has already
been carried out.

E- Will the Chinese be investing in the project?

MB- No. It will be a kind of financing. When the plant becomes operational and comes into production the
Chinese will leave the project. You could say they are giving us a loan and selling us the technology.

We also have an alumina plant at Jajarm. It’s a huge project that took much time and investment, but finally came into production a few months ago. At first it used imported raw materials but now it uses domestic materials entirely. It uses bauxite from the Jajarm source to produce alumina. We also intend to put up an aluminium production plant next to this, to turn the alumina thus produced into aluminium. We further plan to
put up other plants in Khorrasan to supply the domestic market and hopefully export aluminium to the countries north of Iran.

Yet another plant is being put up at Assalouyeh, in the south of Iran, close to rich sources of natural gas.

E- Will this plant, too, use domestic alumina?

MB- No, it will use imported material. We have set up a joint venture with the Republic of Guinea, in Africa, which has enormous reserves of bauxite. The Americans, the French and the Russians have been working
there for many years. We will obtain bauxite from the mines of Guinea and bring it to Iran to produce aluminium.
Our target is to produce one million tons of aluminium per year, in which case we shall have a surplus of 40% for exports.

E- Do you accept foreign investment and private entities in this industry?

MB- Yes of course we do. There are some complicated formalities but they can be overcome.