Palestine]
Petroleum and lubricating oil are said to be obtained in small quantities from bituminous rock at El-Makarin, near Mzerib (the yield from twelve retorts being 180 kg. daily), and at Nebi Musa, south of Jericho, where there appears to be a spring. Borings at El-Makarin had been carried to a depth of 166 metres in 1912-3 by the Syrian Exploration Co. Concessions in the kaza of Ajlun (south-east of Lake Tiberias) have been the subject of negotiations between the British and Turkish Governments; other concessions for petroleum, &c., about Kurnub, southwest of the Dead Sea, were recently purchased by the Standard Oil Co., whose operations were, however, suspended during the war. Between twenty and thirty prospecting licences for petroleum, bitumen, or asphalt were issued between 1910 and 1913.
Salt. The salt produced in Syria comes principally from the lakes of Jebbul, east of Aleppo, which are under the management of the Ottoman Public Debt. Crystallization takes place during the summer, and is promoted by the diversion of the two streams by which the lake is fed. In 1911-12 the output was 12,080,217 kg.; in 1912-13, 9,303,392 kg.; the ordinary sale price at the place of production being 0-4 piastres (9 centimes) the kilogramme.
Chrome Ore. Three mines near Latakia were worked in 1904-7 under a prospecting licence, and 1,089 tons extracted. A concession was applied for, but the mines are no longer exploited.
Phosphates. A concession in the neighbourhood of Es-Salt was obtained in 1911 by a Turkish-Italian company, the terms including a loan of 12,500,000 frs. from the company to the Government for a branch railway from Es-Salt to Amman, and for harbourworks at Haifa. The project. however, came to nothing. The phosphates are said to lie close to the surface, and it has been estimated that with 100 workmen a daily production of 100 tons might be possible.
Iron mines in Syria are said to have been under the control of the German Eisenindustriegesellschaft.
