Ergani Royal Copper Mine (1900-1918)

Ergani Copper Mine Imperial is the most important copper mine of Ottoman Empire. The ownership of this mine belonged to the state and the operation was given to private individuals (taxman). Taxman used to sell raw copper he obtained after mining and various refining processes to the government with a price determined by the government. Those coppers bought from the taxman were used to supply needs of government enterprises such as arm and ship factories, and the rest was sold abroad. As well as providing income by selling copper abroad, copper production called for struggling with specific problems. One of them was the shipment of copper to Iskenderun and Samsun harbours. Another one was the supply of wood coal necessary for refining the copper. Another problem was activating the modern technology which would enable production at a lower cost. It was necessary to build railway in the region for solving the first two of the problems. Yet, it was not possible to carry out things, which required great capital, such as building railway without foreign capital.