'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎56] (65/568)

CHAPTEE III
MINERALS
Introduction—Coal^—Other minerals—Oil and bitumen—Mineral waters.
Introduction
The available information with regard to the minerals of Meso
potamia is very defective. Their exploitation has been hindered by
lack of means of transport, by insecurity, and by other causes, and
those deposits which have been worked have been dealt with by
more or less primitive methods, except where the Anglo-Persian
Oil Company has undertaken operations. Scientific examination of
mineral-fields has been carried out only in a very few parts of
the country, and then generally within very narrow limits, and
information as to deposits in the hills depends largely on native
reports, which are vague, and usually more or less untrue. In
these circumstances it is generally impossible to say anything about
the probable amount and quality of the deposits, or to do more than
indicate the regions in which minerals are reported to exist.
The mineral wealth of the area lies mostly in or on the edge of
the hill-country to east and north. So far as is known at present,
the most important mineral of lower Mesopotamia is the oil which
is found mainly in the foot-hills bordering Arabistan and the Tigris
plains, but the mountain-country beyond the foot-hills has hardly
been examined. In the north uncertain quantities of various solid
minerals (iron, copper, lead, coal, &c.) exist in the mountains and
hills ; these form an extension of the rich mineral-field of the
Aimenian plateau. ^ Lastly, the plains of upper Mesopotamia are in
parts petroliferous.
Most of the oil probably lies in comparatively accessible districts,
fiom which, with the general development of the country, means of
transport could be organized more or less easily; but in the higher
hills and mountains much labour and expense would generally be
needed to provide outlets for the produce of mines.
On the exploitation of minerals see pp. 229-31.