Oman Non-oil Minerals
Copper mine near Suhar; copper has been mined in Oman
since ancient times.
Courtesy Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman, Washington
View of multiple-highway system near Al Khuwayr, linking the
sultanate's major cities
Courtesy Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman, Washington
The sultanate produces copper, chromite, gold, and
silver.
Oman's main copper reserves are in the Suhar area on the
Al
Batinah coast. The processing of ore at the Suhar complex,
operated by the government-owned Oman Mining Company,
began in
1983. The production of chromite by the Oman Mining
Company also
began in 1983 in the Suhar area. Exports of the Oman
Mining
Company are primarily destined to the Far East market. In
1990
Taiwan accounted for 38.5 percent of exports, followed by
Japan
with 11.1 percent and South Korea with 2.9 percent.
In July 1991, the government established the Oman
Chrome
Company (OCC), in which it holds a 15 percent share. The
remainder of the shares are held by the private sector.
The OCC
was created to develop the country's chromite
reserves--estimated
by the Robertson Group of Britain and the Bureau des
Recherches
Géologiques et Minières of France at 2 million tons of
chromite--
at 600 sites throughout the country. The public offering
of OCC
shares reflects the government's official policy of
encouraging
private-sector participation in industry and
manufacturing.
Limestone for cement production is mined in both the
northern
and the southern areas to supply the Oman Cement Company's
plant
in the Rusayl Industrial Estate near As Sib and the Raysut
Cement
Corporation's plant near Salalah. Tile and marble are also
produced for local construction.
Surveys have indicated deposits of numerous other
materials--
asbestos, coal, iron ore, lead, manganese, nickel, silver,
and
zinc. Large deposits of metal ores are located at the Sayh
Hatat
area (northeast of Izki) and the Al Jabal al Akhdar area.
Substantial deposits of zinc and lead are known to exist
in
Dhofar, Jalan, and Hawshi Huqf (southwest of Al Ghabah).
The
feasibility of exploiting coal reserves at Al Kamil, near
Sur, to
replace oil in electric power generation, is being
studied. A
preliminary study on coal completed in 1990 by the UN
Department
of Technical Cooperation for Development estimates coal
reserves
in the sultanate at 22 million tons, a figure considered
adequate
for domestic use but not for export.
Data as of January 1993
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