Copper Smelting in Oman and the UAE

Copper smelting has been one of the interests of the Al Ain chapter for some time. This page provides links to some of the information available on our site, and on the internet, about copper smelting in antiquity.

Copper smelters at Wadi Khutwah

A summary of some of the copper smelters at Wadi Khutwah is available here.

Roasting pit

At Khutwah, near Sultan's Oasis, is a structure we believe may be an ore roasting pit. Photos of the structure are availalbe here.

Ore test

We have conducted many tests of rocks collected in various locations, searching for sources of copper ore to supply all of the smelters we locate. A simple oretest we use is discussed here.

Bricks and links

Photographs of some typical smelting bricks as well as many links for information about copper smelting is available from this page of resources.

Analysis of slag

On one of our many trips to the smelters at Khutwah, a small sample was collected and taken to the Faculty of Medicine and Health Science (FMHS) of UAE University for analysis. The results of that test are available here.

Sample of links . . .

There are numerous articles on the Internet discussing the history of copper mining and copper smelting in the ancient state of Magan. If you have stumbled across an ancient copper smelting site in your travels of the UAE and northern Oman, you may be interested in the following articles, just four of hundreds that discuss this fascinating period of history.

You may also be interested to know that a search of the internet turned up dozens of sites, including the ENHG site mentioning articles in the Bulletins available through our site!

A sampling:

In the course of the Group's field trips, we often come across locations that appear to be ancient mining sites. If you are interested in testing an ore sample, some instructions are listed in this article, Test of Procedure to Analyze for Copper in Ore Samples