Government softens stance on permitting foreign companies to continue mineral mining
Softening the tough stance on granting permission for foreign companies to carry out mineral mining in the island, the government has given the green light to Plumbago Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, subsidiary of Bora BoraResources Ltd of Australia, to resume the larest graphite exploration drilling in designated land areas in the Dambulla and Kurunegala region.
Less than three months of the announcement made by Minister of Environment and Renewable Energy Susil Premajayantha to the Business Times on the suspension of the mineral mining licence given to Bora Bora Resources Ltd, the government has renewed the company’s two key exploration licences at the Matale/Kurunegala Graphite Project for an additional two years.
Chris Cowan, Chairman, Plumbago Lanka and Senarath Jayasundara, Chairman, Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) signed the contract to the value of Rs. 56 million, company officials revealed.
The contract will permit the company to drill for graphite on land identified by a Versatile Time-Domain Electromagnetic (VTEM) survey recently conducted in Central Sri Lanka, they said.
The renewals were granted following the extensive exploration conducted on the licenses by Plumbago Lanka in the preceding two years including the first time an airborne VTEM survey was carried out in Sri Lanka, Mr. Cowan told the Business Times in an e-mail response.
The high technology exploration techniques brought to Sri Lanka by Plumbago Lanka and Bora Bora Resources will enable its second stage exploration (being on ground geophysical work and drilling) to focus on key targets identified by the aerial VTEM survey, a benefit of bringing world-class exploration techniques to Sri Lanka, he said. Drilling will commence as soon as practical after the GSMB takes delivery of its new drill rig that is capable of diamond core drilling to a depth of 400 metres, he disclosed.
Plumbago Lanka will be drilling a minimum of 10 holes of 300 metres depth to test for the presence of graphite
“We are targeting a November 2014 start date at our Kingfisher drilling target while a second drilling project will also commence by Bora Bora when an additional suitable drill rig has been secured”, he noted in his e-mail message.