SPC Geoscience Division

The Director of Fiji’s Mineral Resources Department, Mr. Malakai  Finau told participants in a one day Fiji National Deep Sea Mineral Consultation Workshop held in Suva recently that “with deep sea mineral exploration being granted within the Fiji waters it is important to proceed with caution, to strike a balance between economic development and the protection of the environment.”

The workshop is part of in-country stakeholder consultation process organized by SOPAC Division of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) through the European Union funded Deep Sea Mineral Project in fifteen Pacific ACP States. This consultation allows government officials as well as representatives of the private sector, academic institutions and civil society groups to explore issues relating to deep seabed minerals and mining.   

Similar meetings have already been held in Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga, Samoa and now Fiji.  According to SPC-EU Deep Sea Mineral Project Team Leader, Akuila Tawake, there will be a further ten countries where the consultation workshops will be held in the next five months.