Background
In recent years, the beaches and surrounding waters on Fiji’s largest island, Viti Levu, have attracted attention from mining companies for the minerals contained within their black sand. In Ba, Australian company Amex Resources Ltd has been dredging for magnetite since 2019. In Sigatoka, a wholly owned subsidiary of Australian company Dome Gold Mines Ltd holds an exploration licence and is proposing to mine black sand at the river mouth and on surrounding land areas.
Black sand mining involves extracting iron ore from magnetic sands, often to make steel. It often involves extensive dredging of the sea or river floor. It has the potential to result in environmental damage, including destruction of habitats for crustaceans, snails and corals, erosion, damages to mangroves and reduction of fish stocks.
Upon community consultations with the community of Ba and Sigatoka we come to understand that people were not aware about what Black Sand is and they were not consulted about the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) which gives the go ahead for the mining work to done.
In Ba the full Mining license have been granted while in Sigatoka the company is still doing exploration and we are currently working with the communities in Sigatoka to understand the issue around black sand mining and the importance of Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC).
Workshops
We have been running workshops with the two communities affected by black sand mining bring them together to share information about operations in their community, including history and impact and learn from the experiences of others. Furthermore, we are trying to strengthen the communities networking with local, national and international partners. In addition, we are also assisting the communities to increase their understanding of FPIC and how it is implemented in Fiji.
The bottom line of all the work we have been doing this year on Black sand mining is about care for creation. It has been witnessed in Ba about the effect on the working happening there which have damaged the environment and destroy livelihood in terms of marine life. It has also destroyed mangroves and have increased the impact of climate change with regard to sea level rise.
We are sharing the experiences of the Ba people with those in Sigatoka and we are working really hard to be able to stop the issue of full mining license for the sake of protecting creation.
At this workshop we are strongly requested to attend their Bose Va Koro to create awareness with them.
