Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2019-12-18

Providing Relief for Small Scale Industrialists in Traditional Tile, Brick and Pottery Industries to procure Clay

- Any person or an institution engaged in clay mining should obtain a license for the same in accordance with the Mines and Minerals Act, No.33 of 1992 as amended by Act, No.66 of 2009 and also a license to transport such raw materials to the site of the relevant industry. However, considering the various difficulties the small scale clay industrialists have to undergo, as a result of the complications in the procedure of obtaining the permits, the approval of the Cabinet has already been granted to simplify the process of obtaining permits for the transportation of sand, clay and soil. As such, the proposal made by the Minister of Environment and Wildlife Resources, to amend Section 28 and 30 of the Mines and Minerals Act, No.33 of 1992 as appropriate to provide the provision necessary to further simplify the existing licensing procedure when obtaining the raw materials and to introduce a more efficient and simple method to facilitate the industrialists engaged in Tile, Brick and Pottery to continue in their production process sustainably and to ensure that no eco sensitive areas such as river banks are affected by the process, was approved by the Cabinet.