Iran's steel industry has become indigenized, Iranian Deputy Industry Minister Ahmad Ali Harati Nik said here on Sunday.

"Today, we can say that Iran has tamed steel production technology and that we are capable of designing, producing, equipping, and utilizing a major steel project," he said in a press conference adding, "We are capable of constructing 800,000 ton steel production units and we have currently added this capacity to one million tons."

When asked about Iran's stance regarding aluminum production, he explained, "Through relying on domestic abilities we have launched a plant with the capacity of 30,000 tons in Jajrom and plan to start larger projects in other parts of the country, while applying the experiences gained in this project."

He also noted that in the first quarter of the Iranian calendar year (start March 20, 2008) steel, aluminum, alumina, concentrates and banded iron formations (BIF), coal concentrates, and cement productions have respectively increased 9, 23, 11, 24, 15, 10 percents.

Harati Nik who is also the chairman of Iranian Mines & Mining Industries Development & Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) executive board elsewhere noted that this organization plans to launch 36 projects through investing over $6 billion.

"Three projects have been inaugurated up to this date and 7 more are ready to be launched," he said.