Fiji miners to hunt their own power sources and refine locally

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Natural Resources, Fiji says future large scale mining operations may have to provide their own power sources and conduct refining processes locally.

Committee chairman Joeli Cawaki said this was one of the recommendations being considered after hearing submissions on the Nawailevu bauxite mine.

The committee heard that the mining company was taking unrefined soil offshore to extract the bauxite ore because it was unable to find a power provider that could fulfil its demands.

This process deprives Fiji of added benefits.

"Looking towards the future, maybe the company that wants to come and mine has to provide their own power and that has to be part of the requirements," Mr Cawaki said.

"But if they want to come and mine, let us value-add the minerals in Fiji rather than taking it overseas and refining it overseas and value-adding overseas. In that way, we will be able to get more returns while value-adding in Fiji rather than overseas."

He said Fiji did not have the capacity to provide the needs for large scale mining operations with some having power demands of up 100 megawatts.

DPO North Alipate Bolalevu had requested the committee to work with the FEA on finding sources of power to give Vanua Levu the ability to conduct refining works.

But in his presentation to the committee, FEA acting chief executive officer Bobby Naimawi said it was not economically viable for them and could also destabilise the national grid because of the massive power requirements.

"Mining around the world today have got their own generation because they can't depend on the grid.

"Also taking into account the fact that the source of energy on Vanua Levu is quite small. For the moment, we have got limited generators that can only supply the existing customers on Vanua Levu and if this particular bauxite mine comes in and then overloads that system, the whole of Vanua Levu will be affected."

He said one possible hydro power site had been identified by JICA, which was preparing a further detailed report on the project.