It is a worrying time for Fiji’s mineral resources sector with pundits calling the situation “complicated” and “bad news”.
In the hinterlands of Namosi, where copper exploration has continued for the past 15 years, reports have indicated selling of some
interests by the new partner of the joint venture Newmont Corporation.
While Newmont assured us through Namosi Joint Venture’s country manager Netava Bakaniceva that it was all in transition, some quarters suggest the new partner in the Namosi venture, has distanced itself from assets aligned with former owner, Newcrest Mining, under previous arrangements.
“Transition is still ongoing but nothing on the writing of off reserves especially with those owned by or Newcrest is part of,” Mr Bakaniceva said.
The transit is the takeover of Newcrest by Newmont.
Declassification by Newmont Communication obtained by Sun.Biz allude to Newmont declassifying 12.1mm ounce of former Newcrest Mining proven and probable reserves, which were not measured, indicated or inferred resources, but rather were erased or excluded.
“Newmont also declassified 7.3 mm ounce of former Newcrest Mining measured, indicated and inferred resources,” one source said.
“Five million ounce at the to-be-divested undeveloped Namosi deposit in Fiji are not candidates to return to the books.”
Focus only on Tier 1 According to industry insiders, this may mean the new owners of Newcrest only want to focus on Tier 1 assets, because several Newcrest assets and mines do not meet the company’s criteria and may dispose of it by selling to smaller companies that do not have
the high overheads that Newmont does.
“I expect Newmont will dispose of its Namosi interest because they have not been able to progress it,” an industry source said.
“As an example, they have still not got the renewal of the special prospecting licence which expired I think in last year, despite having lodged the renewal more than a year ago.
“This is bad news for Fiji.”
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Hope
While still on the topic of copper, the recent discovery of the same at Wailoaloa, Nadi, marked an exciting development for Lion One, Fiji’s second operating gold producer..
“The Navilawa Caldera is known to host high-grade alkaline gold mineralisation yet it has also been explored historically for copper,” Lion One said.
“A large copper-gold system has long been hypothesized at depth.”
Namosi Joint Venture
Namosi Joint Venture was established to investigate building a copper mine west of Fiji’s capital, online sources said.
“Newcrest Mining Limited was a founding party of the Namosi Joint Venture (NJV), established between three companies to explore the feasibility of a large-scale copper mine at Namosi, 30km west of Suva in Fiji,” NJV said.
“If approved and constructed, the Namosi mine will feature an open pit, with production capacity of 60 million tonnes per annum (mtpa).”
“It will also provide 17mtpa ROM (runs of mine) ore feed for processing and 300,000 tonnes per annum of copper concentrate. Other benefits that will flow from this project include an estimated 736 new full time positions created every year.
“Following completion of the studies, NJV was granted a special prospecting licence by the Fijian Government, which is the next step before seeking construction approval.
“Namosi isn’t even a project; it just disappeared off the project list,” an industry spokesman said.
There is concern that a “funky” operator could likely takeover the exploration, to reduce the global standards of practise introduced through NJV.
Political will
Time and again, we hear industry players claiming a lack of political will to further investments in mineral resources sector.
Mt Kasi is one example where whispers from landowners allude to the influence of a certain high chief, whose very authority limits plans to further interests at the Vanua Levu site.
The dwindling number of SPLs is a red flag, from the days where an estimated 200 SPLs were issued, to just a handful of active SPLs today.
“Mining begins with exploration,” an industry commentator said.
Feedback: frederica.elbourne@fijisun.com.fj