Phosphate mined at Deposit No. 1184 is bedded with both hard and soft phosphate of the late Cretaceous era.[3] The General Company for Phosphate and Mines (GECOPHAM) mines the deposits, and the combined capacity of Eastern A, Eastern B, and the Khneifess phosphate rock mines is 2.65Mt per year.[4]

Of proliferation concern, the Sawwaneh phosphate rock located at Eastern A and B contains about 60 to 80 parts per million of uranium.[5] While the micro-pilot Uranium Recovery Plant at Homs is not attempting to extract uranium from this particular phosphate rock, it could potentially exploit this resource in the future. [6]

Sources:
[1] S. Atfeh, "The phosphoric resources of Syria," in Phosphate Deposits of the World, Vol. 2, Phosphate Rock Resources, eds. A.J.G. Notholt, R.P. Sheldon, and D.F. Davidson (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1989).
[2] "Nonav - Syria - Industrials and Pharmaceuticals Report," The Bi-Me eNewsletter, 21 December 2004, www.bi-me.com.
[3] Carlotta B. Chernoff, and G.J. Orris, "Data Set of World Phosphate Mines, Deposits, and Occurrences - Part A.: Geological Data," U.S. Geological Survey, 2002.
[4] Thomas R. Yager, "The Mineral Industries of Jordan, Lebanon and Syria," U.S. Geological Survey, 2001, http://minerals.usgs.gov.
[5] S. Atfeh, "The phosphoric resources of Syria," in Phosphate Deposits of the World, Vol. 2, Phosphate Rock Reserves, eds. A.J.G. Notholt, R.P. Sheldon, and D.F. Davidson, (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1989).
[6] Y. Koudsi, S. Khorfan, H. Shleweit, A. Dahdouh, and M. Sweid, "Effect of Oxidation-Reduction on the Extraction of Uranium from Wet Phosphoric Acid by DEHPA/TOPO," Aalam Al-Zarra, Mar-Apr 1998, 54, pp. 59-62; S. Khorfan, Y. Koudsi, A. Dahdouh, and H. Shleweit, "Preliminary investigation on the extraction of uranium from Syrian phosphoric acid," International Conference on Uranium Extraction, Chinese Nuclear Society, 1996.