Puttalam Archives

THE SALTERNS OF LANKA – By Prashanth Sentilkumar Source : Prashanth Sentilkumar Linkedin An Island surrounded by the Indian ocean, Sri lanka’s association with Salt dates back millenias. There is evidence for usage of salt in the island dating back to around 25000 years , during the excavation of the Belilena caves,a few sea shells were found with rockSalt deposits pointing to the possibility of the usage of salt in ancient times. The Mahavamsa (ancient chronicles) states the term “Ussangoda”, which means salttarns or salt pans which was in existence during the reign of King Pandukabhaya, around the 4th century BCE, it was located in the hambantota District. Also the Vinayaka Pataka mentions about sea salt being used in ancient times. During the 3rd century BCE , the Kingdoms of Anuradapura and Polonaruwa were renowned for Salt productions which was harvested in shallow brine pools known has Lunama. The Portugese,Dutch and ...

Spotlight on Puttalam Aussie company buys Lankan ilmenite deposit for a pittance – By Prageeth Sampath Karunathilaka Source : dailymirror The Sri Lanka Cement Corporation owned factories in Kankesanthurai, Puttalam and Galle. The factories in Puttalam and Galle were sold in 1993. The factory in Kankesanthurai didn’t operate due to the war. Although the Puttalam Cement Factory was sold the land where the raw materials were obtained from remained with the Cement Corporation. It is located in the Aruvakkalu area and spreads across 5352 acres. The land was transferred to the Cement Corporation by Extraordinary Gazette No. 283/2 dated Tuesday, 20th September 1977. This land has been provided by the government to procure raw materials for cement production. A layer of red soil had been observed when excavating work was carried out to find limestone to make cement in this land; located in Aruvakkalu. The soil contains ilmenite. It has been ...