Landowners demand mining reform, government promises review

Revising the Mining Act 1965 is not an overnight job.

This was highlighted by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka during the Fijian Media Association Town Hall Meeting at the Golden Event Centre in Tavua in response to calls from Vatukoula residents demanding changes to the legislation that they say favours mining companies over resource owners.

Rabuka says he has acknowledged the urgency felt by native landowners, but cautioned that reforming Fiji’s mining laws will be a deliberate, time-consuming process.

One of those voices was Peceli Vuniwa, a third-generation resident of Nasomo in Vatukoula, who holds 1,026 acres of native land, urged for the current Mining Act be amended to provide fairer terms to landowners.

He referenced when he spent a decade in Papua New Guinea, where local resource owners are more deeply integrated into the mining economy, and questioned why Fiji can’t adopt similar models.

Vuniwa also expressed frustration over what he sees as exploitation by foreign companies, saying that they are mining A-grade gold locally, then shipping it abroad, depriving Fiji of the rightful revenue.

He also called for a new regime of equal participation and equitable benefit-sharing for landowners.

Prime Minister Rabuka explained that the country’s legal framework around land and minerals is a legacy of British colonial rule, and that any amendment would require extensive consultation with chiefs, landowners, investors, and other stakeholders, and would be complex given overlapping interests in land rights and mining rights.

Representatives from the Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources who were present also confirmed that this financial year, the government will commence a review of three critical statutes: the State Lands Act, the Mining Act, and the Land Use Act.

The ministry says the review will be guided by the Fiji Law Reform Commission and will include public consultations before being tabled for possible amendment.