Plateaus are famous as “mineral storehouses,” but they rarely contain mineral oil. Geographically, plateaus like the Canadian Shield or the African Plateau are made of ancient, hard crystalline rocks. Metallic minerals like iron, gold and manganese are abundant in these formations. Coal is also found in many plateau regions where sedimentary layers exist. However, mineral oil and natural gas require soft, younger sedimentary basins (like river deltas or shallow seas) for their formation and entrapment. Therefore, while you go to plateaus for mining metals, you typically look to plains and continental shelves for oil and gas reserves.