Fiji land minister confirms rehabilitation work at Nawailevu

As recommended by the Environmental Impact Assessment report, the Nawailevu Bauxite Mining site in Vanua Levu is going through rehabilitation works that is being carried out by the Aurum Exploration Fiji Limited. The Lands Minister, Mere Vuniwaqa has confirmed this in the parliament on Monday after she was questioned by the opposition on the status of the mining site.

Vuniwaqa explained that the reason for conducting the EIA report is to see the productivity capacity of the soil and whether it can grow pines now as it did before bauxite mining took place. The site is already being used to grow legumes, watermelons and vegetables, she says.

She also clarifies on the reason why large volume of soil is being carried out from the mining site. The soil in the area of the first mine was very high in bauxite content while in the second mine, the company is going to purify the soil, within Fiji, to extract the little amount of bauxite found in the soil.

Another thing Vuniwaqa pointed out is that since the company holds the lease on the land for the 20 years, any pine that grows and matures in that time will belong to the company.