The story: Iran has announced the discovery of large lithium reserves in its western Hamadan Province. The reserves are said to contain 8.5M tons of the valuable element which, if confirmed, would make them the fourth-largest in the world.

Mindful of China’s experience in lithium extraction in Latin America, Iranian authorities have said that they are eyeing the use of foreign expertise to exploit the reserves.

The coverage: Iran's Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade on Feb. 27 announced the discovery of large lithium deposits on the Qahavand Plain in the western province of Hamadan.

• Ebrahim Molabeygi, the director of the ministry's office of explorations, said the reserves contain an estimated 8.5M tons of lithium—adding that...