Influential ME-based Lankan invests in Pulmoddai project
Nandana Lokuwithana, an influential Sri Lanka businessman based in the Middle East, is making a major entry into the mineral sands deposits of Pulmoddai in northeast Sri Lanka, known as the ‘black gold of Sri Lanka’.
An apparel industry magnet, Mr. Lokuwithana, who is the owner of Sri Lanka’sSteel Corporation and the Marriott Al Jaddaf Hotel in Dubai, has already pledged US$40 million to the Treasury for this project as an initial investment, it was revealed.
The project involves producing Titanium dioxide through Titanium, a valuable metal, with the assistance of local or foreign investors.
He has entered into an agreement with Pulmoddai Mineral Sands Company, a subsidiary of Lanka Mineral Sands Ltd (LMSL) a fully government owned company to make Titanium dioxide under a new venture by setting up a separate production plant with an investment of US$300 million, Dishan Goonasekera, LMSL Chairman and Managing Director of told the Business Times in an interview Wednesday.
The LMSL earns millions of dollars for Sri Lanka though mining, processing and exporting of heavy mineral beach sands, but it cannot venture into high value addition increase production with present resources of the company, he said adding that the only option is to enter into joint ventures with local or foreign investors to set up mineral sand separation plants using mineral sands purchased from LMSL.
Titanium metal, a strategic metal valued for its high strength and light-weight is used to make paint, paper, and plastic and ideal for high-performance military aircraft and rockets, space capsules, armour plate, aircraft firewalls, jet engine components, landing gears, submarines and engine parts.
Ilmenite or iron titanium oxide from the Pulmudai coast is a rich source for producing titanium, but at the moment it is exported raw for about $320 dollars a ton but has come down to $92 at present, he said. Titanium dioxide pigment, the finished product, fetches prices at about $4,000 a ton.
He also disclosed that LAUGFS Holdings, a Sri Lankan diversified business conglomerate will be setting up a plant for producing titanium dioxide using technology developed by Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology. The Pulmoddai factory will be modernised under a development plan. A new plant will also be commissioned.
Modification and upgrading of the present plant has been completed, he said adding that his company is contributing large sums of money to the national coffers but it cannot carry out its functions with maximum productivity due to lack of human resources and other facilities.
LMSL General Manager M.W.W.Dahanayaka told the Business Times that the Pulmoddai deposit is about six kilometres in length with an average width of 100 meters and is estimated to contain six million tons of heavy sands with an average composition of 70-72 percent ilmenite, 8-10 per cent zircon, 8 per cent rutile and 0.3 per cent monazite. Nilaweli and Mullaitivu have four very promising heavy mineral deposits with a total reserve of over seven million tons covering Pudevakkaddu, south of Pulmoddai and Kokkilai, Nayaru and Kokkuttuduvai to the north and the company has applied for a license from the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau to carry out mining in 50 km area of Kokkilai, Nayaru and Kokkuttuduvai.
The company has spent a sum of Rs. 240 million to improve infrastructure facilities including electricity and install machinery and spare parts at Pulmoddai factory, he said.