The mining of two mineral commodities is progressing well says the Mineral Resources Department director Mr Malakai Finau.
As senior staff from the department visited project sites for inspection & monitoring purposes, Mr Finau highlighted the achievements of the Nawailevu Bauxite site in Bua.
“This is progressing well in that the Nawailevu Bauxite mine had exported approximately 500 million tonnes of bauxite recently with the last shipment last week.
“An interesting achievement is the rehabilitation works which had resumed with the introduction of crops to mined areas in association with the Ministry of Agriculture,” Mr Finau said.
He said that water melons and pineapples had been trialled in some plots and are growing well with the mining company harvesting some of the water melons as of 21 October 2013.
In relation to the mineral manganese ore, he said that two companies are currently undertaking exploration works.
“The companies exploring are namely Viti Mining and Oak Mines. Viti Mining had been granted a permit to mine and had worked on its first shipment recently.
“Oak Mines is into advanced stages of exploration and had expressed interest to mine and are working towards lodging their application,” Mr Finau said.
MINFO