Titanium Sands has won approval from Sri Lanka’s Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) to consolidate the five main licences at its Mannar Island mineral sands project to assist the process of obtaining an industrial mining licence.
The consolidation is a requirement of the country’s Board of Investment (BOI) which requires all leases to be housed in one entity in order to progress the project for foreign investment approval.
The pre-production capital expenditure for the Mannar Island heavy mineral sands project has been scoped out as A$122 million.
The five licences have now been consolidated into the name of Orion Minerals (Pvt) Ltd. They embrace the project’s core high-grade mineralised zone which forms the cornerstone of the company’s mid-2023 scoping study where a Stage-1 total revenue of A$2 billion is projected.
Applications for retention licences have already been lodged for the Orion licences which are currently being processed, while the mining licence application and approval process is also in train.
Further to the mining licence application process, the company is also finalising its presentation to the country’s Central Environment Authority to obtain that agency’s blessing for the licence.
Titanium Sands managing director Dr James Searle said: “The direction and assistance provided by the BOI has been of great help to the process. The GSMB sign off and issue of the licenses into Orion’s name further supports the momentum of the IML application process. The outcomes expected in the coming months paint a positive picture for the Company.”
Titanium Sands’ remarkable Mannar project has the potential to become a global ilmenite producer and trader with significant benefits to the local community and overall, to Sri Lanka.
With heavy mineral production potentially up to 150,000 tonnes per year, the project has the capacity to generate direct employment for up to 600 people once fully operational.
Perhaps the most significant benefit to the community will be an advanced mine rehabilitation program designed to move in behind the mining and develop plantation agriculture and natural vegetation protection zones.
Those areas are proposed to be owned and operated by local communities, offering substantial and sustainable socio-economic benefits on top of those provided through direct employment associated with the operation.
With income-producing crops being developed by the land-owners, the additional income and further job creation could continue to for generations and is currently expected to flow on to employment for up to another 1200 souls.
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By Doug Bright
