Following is a response by Nimal Cooke to The Sunday Morning article titled ‘Can SL’s new mineral policy overcome old challenges?’ which was published in the newspaper on 26 July.
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I recently read The Sunday Morning article titled ‘Can SL’s new mineral policy overcome old challenges?’ with considerable interest.
While I welcome informed public discourse on Sri Lanka’s mineral sector, I believe the article contains several factual inaccuracies, assumptions, and conclusions that are misleading to readers. Given the importance of this subject to the country’s future, I feel it is important that these issues are addressed.
My principal observations are as follows:
For example, insisting on downstream processing of Sri Lanka’s exceptionally high-grade vein graphite (approximately 99% carbon) could result in products such as pencils, generating only marginal returns per tonne. In contrast, the same graphite, marketed appropriately in its natural form for high-value industrial applications, can command values reaching several hundred thousand US Dollars per tonne.
Value addition must therefore be driven by economic value, market demand, and strategic advantage – not by ideology alone.
Having said that, I do agree with one important observation made by the author: “The 2026 mineral policy has correctly understood in which direction the country’s mineral wealth must be steered, but whether it arrives there will be decided not by the policy itself but by the legislative and institutional structures to follow it.”
Ironically, this statement reinforces the very point I have made above – that institutional governance and implementation are the decisive factors, rather than replacing legislation that is already fit for purpose.
Former Director General and former Chairman of the GSMB and University of Moratuwa Department of Earth Resources Engineering Professor Kithsiri Dissanayake’s recent appeal to the President, titled ‘Observations and Recommendations on the Administration and Strategic Development of Sri Lanka’s Mining and Mineral Sector,’ sets out in detail why the existing Mines and Minerals Act should not be repealed.
The letter to the President is reproduced below:
I respectfully write to Your Excellency in my capacity as a former Director General and former Chairman of the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB), and as a senior academic at the University of Moratuwa and a professional who has served Sri Lanka’s mining, mineral resources, geological, and public administration sectors for several decades.
My intention in forwarding these observations is to constructively contribute towards strengthening the governance, transparency, efficiency, and long-term sustainability of Sri Lanka’s mining and mineral sector, which remains one of the country’s strategically important economic sectors with substantial potential for export earnings, industrial development, employment generation, foreign direct investment, and value addition.
As Your Excellency is aware, the administration of mining and mineral resources in Sri Lanka is governed by the Mines and Minerals Act No.33 of 1992 and the subsequent amendments introduced through the Mines and Minerals (Amendment) Act No.66 of 2009.
Under Section 28 of the act, no person is permitted to explore for, mine, transport, process, store, trade in, or export minerals except under the authority of a licence issued by the GSMB in accordance with the provisions of the act.
Further, Section 35 clearly empowers the bureau to issue licences subject to specified terms and conditions, including technical, operational, environmental, financial, and compliance obligations. Section 37 provides sufficient legal authority for cancellation of licences where licensees violate licence conditions, suspend operations, fail to comply with lawful directions, or act contrary to the provisions of the act. In addition, Section 41 provides for termination of licences under specified legal circumstances.
Moreover, Section 29(d) specifically states that no licence shall be issued to any applicant who does not possess adequate financial capacity and technical qualifications necessary to conduct the proposed activities. Therefore, the existing act itself already provides a strong legal framework to prevent speculative licence acquisition and misuse of mineral exploration rights.
I recently observed through electronic and print media reports that the Government is considering conducting mineral exploration activities directly through the State and restricting or discontinuing the issuance of exploration licences to private applicants. The principal justification reportedly advanced for such consideration is the concern that some exploration licence holders are engaging in speculative transactions, including the transfer, sale, or commercial promotion of licences for financial gain through third-party arrangements and share market-related activities.
While these concerns may have some validity, I respectfully submit that the root cause of this issue does not arise from inadequacies in the existing Mines and Minerals Act itself, but rather from weaknesses in the implementation, evaluation, monitoring, and enforcement mechanisms within the administrative system.
In practice, there have been instances where prospective mineral-bearing areas have reportedly been reserved through the influence of certain internal parties, intermediaries, business agents, and associated entities, and exploration licences have subsequently been issued without adequate scrutiny of the applicant’s genuine technical competence, financial strength, or operational capability. In some instances, licences have effectively become speculative commercial instruments rather than vehicles for genuine mineral exploration and development.
However, the act already contains sufficient provisions to address such situations. If Section 29 and related provisions are properly enforced, licences need not be issued to parties lacking technical expertise, financial credibility, or legitimate operational intent. Similarly, licences obtained for speculative purposes or non-performing activities may be cancelled under Section 37 where conditions are violated or where meaningful exploration activities are not carried out within the stipulated timeframes.
Further, Section 32 of the act already empowers the Hon. Minister to declare specific areas as reserved areas for exploration or mining of specified minerals through gazette notification. Therefore, there is already sufficient legal authority available within the existing legislative framework to reserve strategic mineral zones for direct Government-led exploration and development where necessary.
Accordingly, in my respectful opinion, extensive amendments to the Mines and Minerals Act may not be immediately necessary. The more urgent requirement is the effective, transparent, technically sound, and professional enforcement of the existing legal provisions already available under the current law.
Your Excellency, I also wish to respectfully highlight a significant practical concern. If the GSMB alone is expected to undertake comprehensive exploration of the entire country for all mineral categories, such an approach would require extremely large financial investments amounting to many billions of rupees over several decades.
Further, the present institutional capacity, technical manpower, advanced analytical facilities, exploration equipment, and financial resources available within the GSMB may not be adequate to conduct comprehensive, internationally benchmarked exploration programmes covering the entire country within a reasonable timeframe.
Mineral exploration is a highly specialised, capital-intensive, and technologically demanding activity involving advanced geological mapping, geophysical investigations, geochemical analysis, drilling programmes, laboratory testing, reserve estimation, feasibility studies, environmental assessments, and internationally accepted resource classification systems. Such activities generally require multidisciplinary expertise, sophisticated instrumentation, and substantial long-term financing.
In fact, several technical reports produced over the years have themselves become matters of technical debate and, in certain instances, have even been challenged before the supreme courts of Sri Lanka.
Therefore, if the State solely assumes responsibility for comprehensive nationwide mineral exploration without adequate technical partnerships, institutional strengthening, and financial support, there is a risk that the mining and mineral sector may experience serious stagnation, thereby adversely affecting national economic development, industrial investment, export growth, employment generation, and investor confidence.
In this context, I also wish to respectfully emphasise the strategic importance of conducting a comprehensive national airborne geophysical survey, particularly an airborne magnetic survey, as an essential preliminary step for scientifically identifying mineral prospective zones and anomalous geological structures throughout the country. Such airborne surveys are internationally recognised as one of the most effective and cost-efficient modern exploration tools for regional-scale mineral prospecting and geological mapping.
Airborne magnetic surveys significantly assist in identifying subsurface geological formations, structural trends, lithological boundaries, fault systems, mineralised zones, intrusive bodies, and other geophysical anomalies associated with potential mineral deposits including iron ore, base metals, rare earth elements, graphite, mineral sands, radioactive minerals, and other strategic minerals.
The availability of high-resolution airborne geophysical data greatly reduces unnecessary ground exploration expenditure and enables both the Government and investors to prioritise scientifically promising target areas for detailed follow-up investigations.
During my tenure as the Director General and later Chairman of the GSMB, I strongly advocated the implementation of a national airborne magnetic survey programme covering the entire country and submitted proposals to the Government seeking financial assistance and institutional support for such an initiative.
Unfortunately, despite the technical importance and long-term national benefits of the proposed programme, the initiative could not be implemented at that time mainly due to financial constraints and several unforeseen administrative and operational difficulties.
In my respectful opinion, the present national discussion regarding systematic mineral exploration and strategic mineral development further highlights the urgent necessity of revisiting this important initiative.
A properly designed airborne geophysical survey programme, implemented with international technical collaboration and modern data processing technologies, would provide Sri Lanka with a scientifically reliable national geoscientific database capable of guiding future exploration policies, attracting responsible investment, minimising speculative licence applications, and strengthening evidence-based decision making within the mining and mineral sector.
In this regard, I respectfully propose a more balanced and practical national strategy as follows:
Your Excellency, if mineral reserve estimates prepared by Government agencies are later found to be technically inaccurate, commercially non-viable, or unsuitable for industrial processing and value addition, there is also a potential risk of investor disputes, reputational damage, and possible claims for compensation against the State.
Therefore, it is critically important that all Government-led exploration initiatives are conducted according to internationally accepted technical and reporting standards with appropriate quality assurance and external peer review mechanisms.
I respectfully submit these observations purely in the national interest and in my capacity as a concerned Sri Lankan citizen, senior academic, professional, and former head of the GSMB, who has long been associated with the development of the country’s mineral sector and policy framework.
As a professional who has continuously supported national development initiatives and policy reforms for the betterment of Sri Lanka, I considered it my responsibility to bring these important technical and institutional matters to the attention of Your Excellency and the Government.
I remain fully committed to extending any professional, technical, or policy assistance that may be useful to the Government in strengthening the governance, sustainability, transparency, scientific credibility, and economic contribution of Sri Lanka’s mining and mineral sector.
(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the official position of this publication)
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