Yellowcake, an intermediate stage in processing uranium, is a uranium oxide concentrate which is then heated to remove impurities, the International Atomic Energy Agency says.
Iran had been importing it, Salehi said, but is now mining it and processing it within the country.
The United States and its allies fear that Iran is trying to produce a nuclear bomb. Iran denies it.Nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said the uranium ore concentrate, known as yellowcake, was produced at the Gachin uranium mine in southern Iran and delivered to the uranium conversion facility in the central city of Isfahan for reprocessing.
He added that the message to those meeting with Iran in Geneva on Monday and Tuesday was that they cannot stop Iran's nuclear work.
Salehi's announcement came just a few days before Iran is to continue stalled nuclear talks with the so-called P5 plus 1 countries -- Germany and the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council: the United States, China, Russia, France and the United Kingdom.
The talks are set to take place in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday and Tuesday, said a spokeswoman for Catherine Ashton, the European Union's foreign policy chief.
The spokeswoman said the goal of the talks is to end Iran's nuclear enrichment program.It has been more than a year since the Islamic state has had formal discussions with the P5 plus 1.
Iran has been under stiff sanctions over its continuation of uranium enrichment.
Two Iranian nuclear scientists were targeted by bombers on Monday, leaving one dead.
Iran blamed Israel, the United States and the United Kingdom's spy agencies for the attacks, which killed Majid Shahriari and injured Fereydoun Abbasi.But Salehi said Sunday that the "assassination of Iranian scientists will not hamper our progress."The United States and some of its allies accuse Iran of using its civil nuclear program as a cover to develop nuclear weapons. Iran has denied the accusation, saying its nuclear program is geared solely toward generating electricity and producing medical isotope to treat patients.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said Iran's uranium enrichment will not be discussed at the Geneva talks, though it is the central concern of the six world powers — the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany — that will be present.
Iran's intelligence minister accused the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency of sending spies in the guise of inspectors to collect information about Iran's nuclear activities, state TV reported Saturday.
