Kahatagaha Graphite Mine ( si, කහටගහ මිනිරන් පතල ''Kahatagaha Miniran Pathala'') is a
graphite
Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on large ...
mine
Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to:
Extraction or digging
* Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging
*Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine
Grammar
*Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun
...
located in the village of
Kahatagaha
Kahatagaha is a village in the Kurunegala District, North Western Province, Sri Lanka. The village is located north-west of Matale and north north-west of Kandy.
It is the site of the Kahatagaha Graphite Mine, which is one of the largest graphi ...
in
Dodangaslanda in
Kurunegala District
Kurunegala is a district in North Western Province, Sri Lanka. Consists of and consists 30 Divisional Secretariats, 1610 Grama Niladari Divisions and 4476 total Villages. It consists of 14 Electorate Divisions, 02 Municipal Council, 19 Urban C ...
,
North Western Province. It is one of the largest mines in Sri Lanka. Mining started in 1872, under a British owner and was purchased by
Don Charles Gemoris Attygalle
Mudaliyar Don Charles Gemoris Attygalle (8 September 1836 - 12 December 1901) was a Ceylonese, an entrepreneur and mine owner. He was a successful graphite mine owner and was given the titular title of Mudaliyar for social service by the British Go ...
. It remained in the Attygalle family after the deaths of Don Charles Gemoris Attygalle and his son Francis Dixon Attygalle and was managed by
D. S. Senanayake
Don Stephen Senanayake ( si, දොන් ස්ටීවන් සේනානායක,; ta, டி. எஸ். சேனநாயக்கா; 21 October 1884 – 22 March 1952) was a Ceylonese statesman. He was the first Prime Mi ...
and
John Kotelawala
General Sir John Lionel Kotelawala ( si, ශ්රිමත් ජෝන් ලයනල් කොතලාවල; 4 April 1897 – 2 October 1980) was a Sri Lankan statesman, who served as the 3rd Prime Minister of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) fro ...
until it was nationalised in 1972. Its production dropped after it was taken over by the state due to corruption and mismanagement. Today its managed by the government owned Kahatagaha Graphite Lanka Limited.
See also
*
Graphite mining in Sri Lanka Graphite mining in Sri Lanka has occurred since the Dutch occupation of the country. It is the only country in the world to produce the purest form of graphite, vein graphite (also known as lump graphite), in commercial quantities, currently accoun ...
References
{{reflist
Graphite mines in Sri Lanka
Senanayake family