TEHRAN:Iran’s first discovered opal mine located in Qom is estimated to contain about 1,000 tons of the precious gem. The mine will be developed by the German experts’ help.

The equipment and tools required for the exploitation and processing of the commodity in the newly discovered opal mine located in the central Iranian city of Qom have been purchased and already installed. The project will be soon started by the German experts, the Persian service of Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported on Wednesday.

As a precious stone highly esteemed by the Muslims, oversized opal or much more common agate rings adorn the fingers of the many Muslim faithful therefore, Islamic countries are the main importers of the stone. Iran each year imports from different countries about 300 million tons of the gem.

Despite the fact that Iran enjoys rich opal and agate deposits, each gram of the gem is sold at something about 100 U.S. dollars. low technical expertise in the field as well as high mining costs are among the main reasons for scarcity and high cost of the commodity.