{"id":91935,"date":"2019-08-04T14:08:10","date_gmt":"2019-08-04T21:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=91935"},"modified":"2019-08-04T14:08:10","modified_gmt":"2019-08-04T21:08:10","slug":"sri-lankas-black-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/08\/04\/sri-lankas-black-gold\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka\u2019s Black Gold"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michael Gregson <\/strong>Courtesy Ceylon Today<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n


Sri Lanka could soon be in for a windfall because of the worldwide surge in demand for electric cars. At least 125 million electric vehicles are expected to be travelling global highways by 2030, which means the world is going to need a lot more graphite in the coming decade and beyond. And Sri Lanka is sitting on heaps of the stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Graphite mining dates back 200 years in Sri Lanka, peaking during the First and  Second World Wars, when production hit 35,000 tons a year.  Since then, the industry has been in steady decline on the island. By 2012, production had fallen by 90% to less than 3,500 tons. However, that could all be about to change.  That\u2019s because graphite is essential for the lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles, not to mention the growing number of devices that use the same type of battery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Earlier this month Ceylon Graphite Corp announced that it had discovered a large, wide crystalline graphite vein at its project in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The Vancouver-based exploration company found a 55-centimetre-wide vein at the H1 site in Meewitiya during the digging of a new shaft. The new discovery follows the recent find of another large crystalline graphite vein measuring over 30 cm in width.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The company is confident that these discoveries demonstrate that there is commercially mineable graphite.  Independent testing shows that the graphite is 99.9% pure. This makes it ideal for a wide range of products, including batteries.  We continue to find large crystalline graphite veins with purity that has not been seen elsewhere in the world,\u201d said Ceylon Graphite CEO Bharat Parashar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Prashar added that Ceylon expects to be in commercial production shortly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Purest in the world<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Graphite mined in Sri Lanka is known to be some of the purest in the world, but currently accounts for less than 1% of the world graphite production. Sri Lanka has the purest graphite on earth,\u201d says Parasher. Unlike other places, which have flake and amorphous graphite, Sri Lanka has vein graphite. Vein graphite is like the veins in your body \u2013 its continuous flow, like a mini stream underground coming up from the core of the earth to the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Sri Lanka looks poised to benefit from the growth in demand for graphite as the world looks for alternatives to fossil fuels.  Demand is especially high in the US. With the growing number of EVs expected to drive lithium-ion battery demand. The Benchmark Mineral Intelligence agency estimates that the amount of graphite needed for lithium-ion batteries in America will rocket to 1.75 million metric tons by 2028, a nine-fold increase over 2017 levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Decarbonisation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Those who control these critical raw materials and those who possess the manufacturing and processing know-how, will hold the balance of industrial power in the 21st Century auto and energy storage industries,\u201d wrote Benchmark\u2019s Managing Director Simon Moores. The head of Ceylon Graphite agrees. Decarbonisation is taking place in a big way across the entire globe,\u201d said Parasher. Decarbonisation is taking place not only in the electric vehicle space but also in energy storage in all forms of our daily life. We see graphite as the new oil.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The Sri Lankan Government appears keen to boost graphite production, but red tape has been getting in the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


I have been given to understand about some issues faced by the Sri Lankan mining sector. The mining licences issued have to be renewed every year, is one complaint. Annual renewal is maintained by the Government to safeguard our mining sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


However, it appears that international investors welcome less frequent renewals. Global investors also welcome specialised mining licenses rather than general licences in Sri Lanka,\u201d said former Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen. Graphite, the dark grey to jet black material found in pencils, is an immensely valuable commodity and<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Sri Lanka is uniquely blessed with an accessible and very pure supply. However, it is even more valuable for export once it has been processed and gains added value.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n


One such product is graphene, a form of carbon consisting of planar sheets which are just one atom thick, with the atoms arranged in a honeycomb-shaped lattice. It is the thinnest and strongest material known and another
Sri Lankan Company, Ceylon Graphene Technologies is optimistic for the future.

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 CT Web 02:00 AM Aug 05 2019\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Gregson Courtesy Ceylon Today Sri Lanka could soon be in for a windfall because of the worldwide surge in demand for electric cars. At least 125 million electric vehicles are expected to be travelling global highways by 2030, which means the world is going to need a lot more graphite in the coming […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91935\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}