Past and Present

RS Mines, incorporated in 2007 in Sri Lanka, co-founded and operated by two British Engineers who are also Father and Son, Ranjith and Sheriozha Anthony Wijekoon, respectively, lead RS Mines to become an industry leader in crystalline vein graphite mining & graphitic value added products. RS Mines is primarily concerned with the mining of high purity crystalline vein graphite and the production of graphite - graphene related value added products.

During 2007 to 2011, RS Mines explored Sri Lanka, discovering numerous mineral deposits, as a result of the four year exploration period, RS Mines secured the property known as The Queen's Mine. 

Graphite that is extracted from The Queen's Mine has been analysed by highly qualified materials experts & graphene experts from around the world. All have commended that our natural, high carbon, highly crystalline, vein graphite, has superior characteristics over; amorphous, flake and synthetic graphite types.

China produce a synthetic 99.99% graphite powder, through the synthesis process the material produced is very weak when compared to our natural crystalline vein graphite ore.

Many graphite companies provide a 90-99%+ carbon content graphite, however they produce this through chemically bonding lower grades of graphite together. Natural crystalline vein graphite of the highest purity will always give the edge in performance whatever your application may be.

Currently we mine at our flagship mine, The Queen's Mine. Drilling and exploration have approximated a reserve of 850,000 Tons in each 135 Meter depth sections of the Queen's Mine anomaly. The mountain that the mine is situated in historically has been known as - the graphite mountain. The British began mining here originally but withdrew in the late 1940's due to the end of British colonialisation in Sri Lanka.

RS Mines maintains excellent relations and collaborates closely with the, Geological Survey & Mines Bureau of Sri Lanka (GSMB). We extend our thanks to the GSMB for their continued support of the work that RS Mines does for the benefit of Sri Lanka and its people.

To learn more about RS Mines', The Queen's Mine, visit the Queen's Mine web page.

RS Mines and Graphene

With the emergence of graphene in 2010, courtesy of Sir Andre Geim and Sir Konstantin Novoselov, who essentially bought a spot light to the work executed by previous scientists, most noteworthy being, Brodie - 1859 and 1957 - Hummers and Offeman.

Since the Nobel Prize being awarded to Sir Geim and Sir Novoselov in 2010, graphene has sparked mass study, vast investment into R&D - scale-up.

During the course of graphenes race to market, scientists and industrialists have realised the hurdles in getting graphene to the consumer market, however with all the criticism and doubt, we are now starting to see graphene integrate and disrupt products and markets.

And this is the just the beginning...

In 2013 RS Mines made its first breakthrough in graphene via plasma (definition & image) specialist, Haydale of the United Kingdom, through their split plasma technology, created an excellent grade of Graphene Nano Platelets (GNPs), Haydale's conclusion was that RS Mines 99%+ natural crystalline vein graphite had very few defects, was highly crystalline, and finally concluded that

"the material is of exceptionally high quality, the best graphite in the world" 

Ian Walters.

RS Mines is currently working on numerous graphene related projects including;

• The integration of it's natural, high carbon, highly crystalline, vein graphite products into the manufacture of multi-layer graphene via a green, wet chemical method, which is being developing and scaled up, in-house.

• Manufactured graphene/multi-layer graphene to be targeted to disrupt the following industries;

  • Disrupting the energy storage industry, by providing the solution to safer, longer lasting energy storage cells, with minimal charging times.

  • Replacing of Platinum and Titanium in Dye Sensitised Solar Cells.

  • Graphene thin films for water purification for drinking purposes.

  • Graphene polymer and carbon fiber enhancements, providing the next level of strength and weight reduction.

  • Conductive inks / Graphene based inks for printed electronic applications.

  • Conductive polymers.

  • Graphene for drug delivery.

  • Graphene sensors.

  • Printed graphene for the use in flexible transparent screens.

  • Graphene Oxide - the solution for the neutralisation of radionuclides (in association with AZ Electronics/Merck).

It Just goes to show you how truly amazing this material really is. if any of these areas are of your expertise contact us to collaborate.

It is clear to see how Graphene is allowing us to move products and technology to the next thresholds, allowing for greater weight reductions but adding to overall strength. RS Mines' Technical Director, Dr. Vyom Parashar described the integration of graphene as;

"Graphene is not re-inventing the bicycle wheel, but enhancing it"

and that is exactly what graphene will do, it essentially provides the disruption as what Bakelite had to industries and products in the early 1900s.

There are some exciting applications which graphene will enhance, especially in the electronics industry, moving industry standards well into the Terahertz, and with graphene being the key base to various doped material enhancements, the new materials utilising graphene will no doubt push the limits even further.

Various routes to graphene have emerged ranging from all kind of different material sources and process, however one key aspect is certain, the graphene you produce is directly related to the starting carbon source used. Dr. Robert Murray-Smith discussed this in detail;

To learn more about graphite and graphene, be sure to visit Dr. Robert Murray-Smith's You Tube Channel.

Since 2010, there has been a tremendous surge in the number of universities and companies racing to secure their patents of manufacturing graphene, there have been well over 50,000 patents applied for in the field of graphene, but will they matter?

One noteworthy method of obtaining high quality graphene is via the lasering of graphene oxide. Take the time to view the following two noteworthy videos on energy storage devices from lasering of graphene oxide - a precursor to graphene.

Stay up to date with all the latest development at RS Mines by visiting our latest news page.