TEHRAN - Iran has unveiled a home-made 150 metric ton (mt) dump truck to serve demands in the country’s massive mining sector despite sanctions cutting off its access to foreign material and technology.
A video published on the IRIB News on Sunday showed the Iranian-made dump truck moving toward a large parking area while experts and manufacturers discussed its technical capabilities.
The machine, named ADAK 150AC, has been designed and manufactured by Gohar San’at Adak Gostar, a company based in Kerman, a province in the southeast of Iran, which is home to some of the country’s largest iron and copper mines.
Various Iranian government institutions, including the Iranian Presidency’s department for science and technology, have contributed to the project.
The Nour News agency said that Iranian engineers had spent two years designing the giant machine, which enjoys a full electric drive.
It said Iran has now become one of the few countries with the technology and expertise to manufacture such dump trucks.
With an estimated $770 billion worth of reserves, Iran has seen its mining sector as a major source of development since the United States imposed sanctions on the country’s oil exports in 2018.
The expansion of Iran’s mining sector has helped create hundreds of thousands of jobs while enabling the country to earn tens of billions in hard currency revenues.
The National Iranian Copper Industry Company (NICICO) said last year it had signed a contract with the MAPNA Group, a large government-controlled energy and construction holding, to manufacture a 136-mt dump truck.
That comes on top of numerous finished and ongoing projects for local manufacturing of heavy mining machinery, including excavators, crushers, and bulldozers.