Transcript MINING & MINERALS

MINING & MINERALS
ACTION PLAN – NEXT 12 MONTHS
Mineral Resources Department
Ministry of Lands & Minerals
Mala Finau – Director Mineral Development
4 June 2011
SCOPE
• Background
• Action Plans - Next 12 months
• Conclusion
3 Key Areas
1. Mineral Resources & Mining
2. Water (Groundwater) Resources Investigation
& Management
3. Disaster Management (Earthquake &
Tsunami) Detection, Monitoring &
Information Dissemination
1. Mineral Exploration & Mining
– ~ 60 Mineral Exploration Licenses that are at the
current at the moment
– Includes Minerals (Earthy & Metalliferous, Petroleum,
Geothermal, Deep Sea Minerals (DSM)
– Three Mines - 2 Gold Mines, 1 Bauxite
• Vatukoula Gold Mine (Vatukoula)
• Wainivesi Gold Mine (Tailevu)
• Nawailevu Buaxite Mine (Bua)
– Initial Stage of Mine Development
– One Mining Lease Application
• Viti Mining - Vorovorobitu Manganese
Action Plan – Minerals & Mining
• Facilitate / Promote Steady growth of mineral sector given current
trends – Increase GDP contribution of Mining Sector
• Diversification of Mineral base
- Bauxite, Manganese, Magnetite sands, Zinc, NOT just gold & Silver
• Diversification of Sector – emerging sectors
- Deep Sea Minerals, Hard Rock, Sand & Gravel, Geothermal Resources,
Water Resources (Bottled Mineral Water)
• Policy & Legislation
- Review legislation (Mineral Exploration & Exploitation Bill –MEEB
2006)
- 11th draft completed
- Existing Mining Act currently in force
• Mineral (Mining) Symposium – Discuss contentious issues in Mineral
Resources Development
Way Forward
• Recognition that to ensure continuous steady growth of sector, it must be
done in a sustainable manner
• Hence the 3 pillars of sustainability – social, environmental & economic
factors must be addressed
• Lack of policy framework to address the above
• Need to consult widely with stakeholders (good governance) to gauge
issues that needs to be considered as part of implementing the necessary
policy frameworks to address the 3 pillars of sustainability
• Need to accommodate the policy / legal reforms either through amending
existing Mining Act or progress review towards superseding existing Act
with Mineral Bill (MEEB) - decreed
• Develop subsidiary legislation to provide Government with specific
processes to implement principles of the underlying Decree.
Way Forward – cont’d
• Conduct Mining (Mineral Sector) Symposium to discuss contentious
stakeholder issues – Public & Private, Landowners & representatives,
NGOs, Donor Agencies, other Stakeholders etc, etc
- Preparatory symposium in late June 2011 to map and gauge stakeholder
issues that need to be addressed
- Main symposium to be held in 3rd quarter 2011 will focus on potential of
the sector in view of expectations that all exploration projects will become
producing mines, whilst addressing stakeholder issues
• Government’s challenge is to channel all the issues from all stakeholders
through an integrated forum to be called the “Mineral Development
Technical Committee” (MDTC)
- MDTC comprises key Government agencies involved in project
development
Continued
• A Technical Advisory Group (TAG) will serve as advisory to MDTC in as far
as compilation and formulating relevant stakeholder issues emanating
from the symposium
• MDTC will create an enabling environment to facilitate mineral sector
growth by addressing legal / policy reforms together with capacity building
to then establish platform for project development
- Legal / policy reforms to address exploration, mining, fiscal, compensation,
geothermal and offshore (deep sea exploration)
2. GW Resources Investigation & Mangement –
Action Plan
• Continue GW Investigation & Monitoring
• Policy & Legislation
– GW Sources Protection
– GW conflicts
– Environment
3. Disaster Management (Earthquake & Tsunami) Action Plan
• Continue upgrade of earthquake monitoring
Stations currently in progress (JICA assistance)
• Installation of 3 new stations (Dogotuki- Macuata,
Lakeba - Lau, Dawasamu – Tailevu)
• Improve Services
– Communications
– 24 / 7 operations
Conclusion
• The need for legal / policy reform is becoming
necessity given current boom & future
development in Mineral Sector.
• THANKS