China enters mineral sand mining sector
A Chinese company is making a foray into the mineral sand mining field in Sri Lanka with the backing of a local company highly connected to an influential government politician.
Demi Shenzen Co. recently submitted a proposal for mineral sand mining in a 500-acre land around Pulmoddai in the East coast, official sources revealed, adding that it would be approved.
The company plans to manufacture Nano Titanium Dioxide from mineral sands in a US$75 million mining project. The sources said Demi Shenzen Co. is to enter into an agreement with state-owned Lanka Mineral Sands Ltd to make use of its processing plant at Pulmoddai.
Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) sources said that the company would have to obtain a mining licence for this purpose.According to geological experts, the Pulmoddai deposit is about six km in length with a width of 100 metres. It contains around six million tonnes of heavy sands with an average composition of 70-72 per cent ilmenite, 8-10 per cent zircon, 8 percent rutile and 0.3 per cent monazite.