Abstract:
Sri Lanka hosts a variety of mineral resources
and the government grants necessary approvals required for
mining. As compensation Government charges a royalty.
Currently, in aggregate production in Sri Lanka, an explosivebased
equation is used for royalty levy calculation which has
not been scientifically established where bulking of the
material is not considered. As mineral royalty levy is one of the
main revenues of the state, deviations of royalty recovery will
influence the economy of the country. The study is being
conducted on several A grade quarries, and Total Station
surveys were used to obtain 3-dimensional coordinates of the
muck pile before and after blasting. These data were used to
generate a 3D model of the muck pile and the bench, which was
used for the bulk volume calculations with the use of the Surfer
16 software. The in-situ volume of the blasted rock was found
by truck weight calculations and both the bulk volume and the
In-situ volume were used for Bulking Factor calculations, and
Powder Factor calculations. This research will lead to
significant alterations in the royalty calculations. This
approach with new technology will put the royalty calculation
on a scientific putting and elevate the royalty calculation
methodology.
