Laugfs & Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology to Process Mineral Sands for Value Addition

02nd March 2012, www.dailynews.lk,

Laugfs Holdings Limited entered into a strategic agreement with Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology (SLINTEC) to process natural mineral sands for value addition.

The landmark agreement was signed yesterday creating a PPP venture to set up country’s first ever plant to produce titanium dioxide from mineral sand.

The agreement will be an initiative to bring in more foreign exchange in to the country where at present mineral sand is exported in raw form in bulk. The country imports processed sand paying 10 to 15 percent more in value thus making the industry a negative contributor to the economy. Our efforts will reverse this trend, Laugfs Holdings Chairman W.K.H. Wegapitiya said.

“Sri Lankan entrepreneurs and companies should be encouraged to venture into similar businesses leading to value addition. Although, we believe that FDI is key for economic development, it has not made significant impact on the economy. Therefore entrepreneurs with new thinking to take maximum advantage of our natural resources to engage in scientific research are the need of the hour,” he said. The country is rich with key ingredients of natural resources as factors of production, location specific advantages and entrepreneurship which according to Michael Porter are the pre-requisites of economic development.

We are rich with all three factors and also possess knowledge but not have reached the developed nation status. This is a concern and need corrective action. “We are a truly Sri Lankan company and this venture is going beyond commercial consideration to give back to society.


We are creating synergy with the agreement which could lead to new knowledge and confident that the country will benefit in the long run,” Wegapitiya said.

A fully fledged manufacturing plant will be set up shortly to produce different value added chemical from mineral sand.

Sri Lanka is estimated to have 18 million metric tons of ilmenite reserves, the world’s ninth largest deposit.

The country’s North and the East beach sands contained about 70 to 72 percent ilmenite and it is estimated to have 6 to 8 million metric tons of ilmenite according to the surveys of the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau of Sri Lanka.

Pulmoddai ilmenite is known to contain about 50 to 60 percent of titanium dioxide in its composition.

The SLINTEC has developed a proprietary process to produce TiO2 and nano TiO2 starting with ilmenite obtained from Pulmoddai. Signing of this agreement will initiate the commissioning of a pilot plant and then a large scale commercial plant where the project will be completed in three phases.

Image: Laugfs Holdings Chairman W.K.H. Wegapitiya, Senior Minister Tissa Vitarana and SLINTEC
and other officials at the tie up. Picture by Nissanka Wijeratne

Related Info :

• Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology to be a Research and Innovation platform for Sustainable Nanotechnology in Asia

• Sri Lanka to Manufacture Nano Titanium Dioxide from Pulmoddai Mineral Sands

Laugfs Leisure Looks for Hotels on Aggressive Five Year Plan

11th April 2011, www.lankabusinessonline.com, By Sanjeevi Jayasuriya

Laugfs Leisure is looking forward to take over the management or to buy hotels. It has a five year plan to aggressively enter the leisure sector by building hotels in the Cultural Triangle and in attractive locations in South coast and East coast.

The first hotel to be constructed by the Laugfs Group at a cost of Rs 500 million investment is expected to complete construction by June next year.

The construction of the hotel in Karugapam in Chilaw by Laugfs Leisure is currently under way.

“We have already started the project and the ground filling work is carried out at present. The hotel is scheduled to be completed by mid next year”, Laugfs Leisure CEO and Director Harsha Gamage told Daily News Business.

The foundation laying ceremony will be held next month. This 74 room hotel falls under the category of a small luxury hotel.

There will be an expansion to this by way of another 26 rooms in the second stage,” he said. “We see a growth in the leisure sector especially with foreign tourist arrivals. There is a need for accommodation and projects of this nature could cater to the growing demand in the industry,” Gamage said.

The Laugfs Group entered into the leisure sector in 2008 by purchasing Emerald Bay in Kosgoda and a boutique hotel Temple Tree Resort and Spa. The two hotels have recorded an increase in arrivals since its takeover.

The two hotels have recorded 50 percent growth from previous year and a turnover growth of 41 percent. Both hotels are doing well. The off season prospects are looking bright. Even for the off season there is 75 percent confirmed bookings. During the season they had recorded over 85 percent occupancy since 2009 September.

Related Info :

• Sri Lanka's Laugfs Builds a 4 Star Hotel in Chilaw

Sri Lanka's Laugfs Builds a 4 Star Hotel in Chilaw

17th November 2010, www.dailynews.lk, Harshini Perera

Laugfs Holdings Limited will start construction work of the 100 rooms four-star hotel in Bangadeniya Chilaw in December.

The hotel will be ideal for tourists since it is only one hour from the Bandaranaike International airport and can be used as a transit point for tourist travelling to the East coast of the country, Laugfs Holdings Limited Chairman W K H Wegapitiya told Daily News Business.

Under the first phase of the hotel, 74 rooms will be constructed within 18 months and under the second phase there will be 26 cabana model rooms.

The hotel will target high end spending customers and Laugfs also expects to get the Small Luxury Hotel Association membership.

"The hotel will be managed by Laugfs Holdings which is currently managing Temple Tree Resort and Spa and Emerald Bay Hotel in Induruwa."

The Laugfs IPO will fund the construction of this hotel and a serviced apartment in Maya Avenue, Colombo.

He said that the construction of the serviced apartment started two year ago and will be completed in another two years.

"We started construction of this apartment as a condominium but later wanted to finish it as a serviced apartment. The 72-room apartment has all facilities such as restaurants, pubs and conference halls to cater to a large number of tourists as well as locals," Wegapitiya said.