Sri Lanka

The graphite of Ceylon is first picked at the mine, and then dispatched to Colombo for cobbing, picking and screening. Men and women, using a tool like an axe, chip off the waste material from the lumps, and sift the small fragments upon slightly inclined screens made of sheet iron. They also clean the lumps with brushes made of cocoa-nut husks. The graphite is split into four grades: large (fist sized or larger), ordinary (walnut sized), chips (grain sized) and dust.  It is then packed in casks.  (Foster, Clements le Neve; A Treatise on Ore and Stone Mining Charles Griffin 1910)