While State-owned miners will continue to drive mining output in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena), with governments slowly encouraging foreign direct investment into the sector, political instability will keep investment rates relatively low compared with other regions, according to research firm BMI. In its latest outlook for the region, BMI said it expected the removal of Western sanctions in the fourth quarter of 2017 to accelerate the growth of Iran’s mining sector, which contains vast, underdeveloped reserves.