"ملف ١١/٢ يوميّات وتقارير: سلسلة الجزيرة العربية" [ظ‎‎٤‎٤] (٢٢٢/٨٨)

45
/
complete fiasco. There were, indeed, indications that the so-called mine had been
‘ salted \
4. On the other hand we have a certain amount of information about gold
mining on the other side of the Ked Sea, near Port Sudan. As long ago as May
1931 Turner (then Commercial Secretary to the Residency) wrote to me to the
following effect :—
5. Mr. A. Beeby Thompson, who had advised tire Egyptian Government
about oil, and the Sudan Government about water, told Turner that he firmly
believed there were really great possibilities about gold mining in various dis
tricts between the Nile and the Red Sea. In the past the main practical difficulty
in working these deposits was a shortage of water. Nowadays, with motor trans
port, the question of water had become much simplified. Many of the workings
which are marked as “ ancient gold workings ” in the general economic atlas of
Egypt presented to the International Geographical Congress at Cambridge in
1928 by the King of Egypt have, in ancient times, merely been scratched. Beehv
Thompson believed that, with up-to-date mining machinery, good results could
be obtained.
0 . We have also a note which shows that a gold mine exists at Gebeit which
as you know, is not tar from Port Sudan. A new cyanide plant was installed
thcie m the autumn of 193o and was supposed to be readv by March 1934 In
the autumn of 1933 one of five stamp batteries was already in operation and nro-
ducmg about £_,000 worth of gold per month. There are also records of other
small mines m the same neighbourhood.
™ J* Sll ^ a isa good deal of evidence that gold does exist on the west
c ast of the Red Sea, but there is no evidence whatever of heavy mineralisation in
Arabia Judging, however, from our experience in Western Abyssinia the
present high price of gold may very well tempt some of the bigger and entirely
respectable gold mining companies, probably through an intermediarv to take
som, M* r t in Twitched venture since there is "a market fm the -shares-- if
nothing else—of these low-grade gold properties at present.
8 . As soon as I hear anything further of any personalities concerned with
the scheme, I will not fail to let you know. vonctinea wun
a
(67)
Memokasdum pnoir the Honourable the Political Resident in the Persian
Gulf, Bushire, No. 603-S.|34, dated the 29th June 1934.
Reference Foreign and Political Department endorsement No F 17 v qj.
dated the 19th June 1934 [Serial No. (60)] Ao - * * 17 ^-i34,
3. If the Government of India see no nhWftnn u 11 i
eopies may, in future, he sent direct to the Political -Wnfs m < ’ 0 " vf '. mwit if
which case one spare copy will suffice for this Residency." tlo " od abovc > ln
( 68 )
Endorsement rv the Foreign and Political Department, No. 17-N.|34, dated
the 16th July 1934.
Kuwait, 0 §ahrain° anf Z^rtt^rrmit^on^^" 110 the P ° litical A ^’
P Letter from the Hon’ble the Politico] _
No. 603- S .|34, dated the 29th Jimo mf[SeZ To W)T ^
2. Serial Nos. ( 21 ) to (55) of the Arabia Series of 1934.