Ceylon Graphite Corp. (TSXV: CYL) announced on Tuesday the receipt of renewal of its environmental protection licence from the Central Environmental Authority of Sri Lanka for its ongoing operations at the K1 mine.
The licence is valid for three years after having past an inspection that the operation conforms to stipulated standards, the company said in a press release.
Ceylon currently holds a land package constituting 121 km² grids containing historic vein graphite deposits in Sri Lanka. These exploration grids (each 1 km² in area) cover areas of historic graphite production from the early 20th century and represent a majority of the known graphite occurrences in Sri Lanka.
According to Ceylon, the “vein” graphite found in Sri Lanka has the highest in situ purity in the world, but make up just less than 1% of the world’s graphite production.
K1 is Ceylon’s first mining project in the country. The mine site has been granted the highest category license in Sri Lanka, giving the company exclusive rights to mine, process and trade in graphite mined within the area specified in the licence.
“We are very pleased with our technical staff on site, having maintained compliance with the applicable environmental standards, and we look forward to applying these standards to our production growth vein graphite prospects in Sri Lanka,” Ceylon’s CEO Don Baxter said in the release.
He added that Ceylon is looking to “tick all the ESG boxes” for OEMs and investors alike as it continues to evolve into a stand-alone battery technology company.
Shares of Ceylon Graphite rose 5.1% following renewal of the K1 licence. The graphite explorer and developer has a market capitalization of C$26.2 million.