Iran Daily cited Mr Ardeshir Saadmohammadi MD of Iran Minerals Production and Procurement Company as saying that Iran's coal output will reach 3 million tonnes in the next four years once Phase I of Parvardeh IV Coal Mining Project at Tabas in South Khorasan province is inaugurated and its second phase is commissioned.

Mr Saadmohammadi while speaking at a ceremony for signing an agreement with a Chinese firm to explore the second phase said that Phase I with a production capacity of over 750,000 tonnes will become operational in late August 2007 while Phase II is to come on stream within three years. He added that once the projects are implemented, coal concentrate output would reach 1.3 million tonnes in Tabas in the year to March 2009. Production capacity of Phase II is expected to be 450,000 tonnes.

Mr Ardeshir predicted that calculating coal concentrate production in Kerman and Shahroud with the capacities of 1.3 million tonnes and 400,000 tonnes respectively, the total output will exceed 3 million tonnes within the next four years.