MRL Corporation Ltd to begin high grade graphite production in Sri Lanka
In a major breakthrough in Sri Lanka’s mineral industry, an Australian-based company, MRL Corporation Ltd is to begin high grade graphite production for the export market in the second half of this year following successful results in diamond core drilling and testing at Pandeniya site, near Warakapola and also the Aluketiya project in the southern province, officials said.
The Industrial Mining Licence for MRL’s flagship Pandeniya high-grade graphite project is expected to be issued to the company shortly, Peter R. Youd, Executive Director, Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary told the Business Times. This will be the first new graphite mining licence to be issued in Sri Lanka in the past 25 years, he added.
The company has already completed the Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) report required by the Central Environmental Authority (CEA), he said, adding that drilling has been accelerated at the Aluketiya high grade graphite project using MRL’s newly imported drill rig.
Aluketiya will be an underground mining operation to extract high-grade, crystalline vein graphite, the purest form of graphite. This rig has the capacity to drill deeper and provide larger core sample than diamond drill rigs currently operating in Sri Lanka, he pointed out.
The purchase of the drilling rig is a major step forward for MRL and will enable the company to accelerate its programme to test about 10 priority drilling targets and increase the size of core samples. This will in turn ensure MRL remains on track to begin production of high grade graphite in the last quarter of this year.
The rig comes complete with ancillary equipment and a separate track driven rod carrier and is likely the most advanced drill rig in the country, he added. Graphene testing at the University of Adelaide showed outstanding results which demonstrated that MRL’s graphite is suitable for manufacturing premium priced graphene, Mr. Youd said.
All exploration licences of the company were renewed for a further two year period and the company continued negotiating land access agreements to provide the future exploration path in the MRL priority areas at Dedigama and Pujipitiya, he revealed.
The MRL has spent approximately US$1 million on exploration activities. This has been funded by way of investment from the parent company, MRL Corporation Ltd which has raised funds from its shareholders on the Australian Securities Exchange to enable this investment in Sri Lanka.
The company has conducted several geophysical surveys including a Fixed Loop Ground Electro-Magnetic survey within the Warakapola Project area and ground surveys within the Pujipitiya Project area. The company has appointed a new Non-Executive director Chris Banasik recently.
Mr. Banasik was a founding Director of Exploration and Geology for the ASX listed company Silver Lake Resources Limited and held this position from May. 2007 until November 2014. He has a Master’s Degree in Mineral Economics from University of WA and Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Physics from Curtin University.
He has volunteered to lecture to geology students, both undergraduate and post graduate, on practical mining geology and engineering at the Department of Geology at the University of Peradeniya.