Sri Lanka is well-endowed with minerals and these form an important export category. For example, the local graphite is of premium quality and offers many processing opportunities in graphite lubricants, flake graphite, carbon brushes, refractory bricks and midget electrodes.
Other minerals include heavy metal mineral sands, clays, dolomite and apatite. The mineral sands contain around 75 per cent titanium dioxide - the opaque white pigment used in paints. Traditionally, these have been exported in unprocessed form.
The presence of quartz, ball clay, silica and feldspar offer opportunities in the ceramics and glass industries. Sri Lanka has about 75 per cent of the raw material required to manufacture such products. The country's porcelain is ranked among the best in the world.
Large deposits of phosphate are also available for the manufacture of fertilizer.