Lanka Mineral Sands to sell sand for value addition to foreigners: Bathiudeen

We have informed the companies that we will sell sand through a tender procedure

One million tonnes of sand extracted from the mine at Lanka Mineral Sands Ltd Pulmudai is to be sold to two foreign companies which had expressed interest in adding value to the sand and turning them into chemicals, Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen told Parliament yesterday.

Minister Bathiudeen, responding to a question raised by JVP MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake under standing orders 27(2), assured him that Lanka Mineral Sands will not be privatized.

“We have only decided to sign contracts with private sector companies to supply sand for value addition. We advertised in the papers calling for interested parties for this purpose and 12 foreign companies responded.two were selected.we have informed the companies that we will sell sand through a tender procedure while the global price for sand would also be considered when deciding on who to award the tender to,” the minister said.

He said a paper was presented to Cabinet for this purpose and a committee was appointed to look into the matter. “There is a stock of one million tonnes of sand which has not been put to use,” the minister added.

Earlier Mr. Dissanayake questioned as to whether there was a plan to sell the sand mine, privatize Lanka Mineral Sands Ltd, or to give up the government’s stake in it.the JVP MP raised this question by recalling that the Mineral Sands Board, which owned the sand mine, was converted into a company in 1992 with the idea of privatizing it. He said the mine is a valuable resource as it possess sand which could be used to produce valuable chemicals such as Ilmenite and Rutile.“the mine could be made use to produce chemicals locally instead of it being imported. Beside it is not an institution which is a burden to the government but one that provides revenue to the treasury.