By Rachna Lal
Canadian miners Lion One Limited are looking forward to applying for their mining licence for the planned Tuvatu Gold Mine in Sabeto Valley near Nadi Airport.
Project manager, David Pals, confirmed this and said they expect to complete the Environmental Impact Assessment by late this month.
“We will apply for a mining licence soon after that,” he said. Mr Pals has already indicated plans that mining would commence within a year of being granted mining permit.
An Environmental Impact Assessment public consultation meeting will be held today at the Naboutini Village Hall in Nadi at 3pm.
Mr Pals said this will be to make up for the one cancelled because of the Tropical Cyclone Evan last year and will be a follow on from the previous consultation.
The Environmental Impact Assessment is being prepared to assess the potential environmental impacts of the proposal towards the surrounding environment and to recommend/develop relevant mitigating measures.
This measure ensures that the mineral development is carried out in an environmental sustainable manner.
Interest in jobs
Mr Pals has further assured that there has been no major concerns raised by the villagers so far as the environmental impact is concerned.
“People have been interested in things such as how many jobs will be created when mining starts and for how many years the mining will go on for,” he said.
Gold find increasing
Mr Pals indicated the years mining would go on for would be entirely dependent on the amount of gold being found. “Mining will depend on how much gold we find and we are indeed finding more
and more gold every day,” he said. As far as jobs are concerned, it will be determined later.
The mining area
The area was previously explored by Emperor Gold Mines, the former operators of the Vatukoula Mine, 50 kilometres away.
Lion One sees Tuvatu Gold Mine as the flagship for their Fijian mining investment.
Future work is expected to include increasing their exploration footprint in Fiji in conjunction with production at Tuvatu.
source: Fiji Sun
