Fiji - Mining Journal

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A Leading Light in Pacific Mining

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Fiji:
A Leading Light in Pacific Mining


	Pouring gold at Emperor Mines' Vatukoula operations, Fiji's largest and longest-established producer

With the benefit of hindsight, the prospectors who searched Fiji's streams and hillsides in the 1920s and 1930s were about 60 years ahead of the game. Exploration companies only began to recognise the implications of plate tectonics in the formation of epithermal gold deposits in the western Pacific in the 1970s, by which time Fiji had been a major gold producer for half a century.

Today, mining continues to be a vital part of the economy, with gold being the country's second-largest individual export. The government is keen to see the continuation of a strong mining industry, in the context that well-managed mineral sector developments contribute positively to national growth and social welfare improvements for all of Fiji's citizens. Its active support for mineral sector developments includes the implementation of a number of macro-economic policies aimed at encouraging investment. Accepting that mining is an unusually high-risk industry, the government is also in the process of introducing a low-rate, competitive, transparent fiscal policy that should enable investors in mining and exploration to achieve returns commensurate with the risks that they face.

Fiji's Advantages

Political stability Pro-mining policies Geographical location Foreign investment welcome Full foreign ownership allowed Negotiable royalty and tax rates Solid resources law Security of title Negotiable land access Established support services Excellent prospectivity Availability of national geophysical data Well-educated, English-speaking workforce An established mining tradition

Fiji's mining and exploration administration system is open and unbiased, since the government recognises that the private sector is the most able developer of the country's mineral resources. The government does not require any equity participation in projects, nor is there any other form of direct state involvement. Investors' rights to mineral tenements, and their security of title, are enshrined in Fiji's Mining Act and Regulations, the Mineral Resources Department being the government agency responsible for its administration.

The Mineral Resources Department (MRD), based in the country's capital, Suva, is sponsoring this special Supplement in conjunction with the Fiji Trade and Investment Board and with the support of the companies advertising in it.

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