Fiji’s only locally-owned steel mill Dayals Steels PTE Ltd is within reaches of producing “truly locally made Fijian steel” through a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) it signed early month with Magma Mines Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Australian miner Dome Gold Mines Ltd.
The initiative will see the “mining” of sand at the mouth of the Sigatoka River by Magma Mines, who is currently in the final stages of a feasibility study in preparation for the submission of an application for mining lease to the Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources.
“Once you extract the sand, with that sand you have iron ore with it. When that comes out, they will separate it and when it’s separated, we can actually use that iron ore to make our steel,” said Dayals Steels managing director Jay Dayal.
“If this MOU becomes a binding contract, then we also need to invest, so that we can use Fiji’s soil to make steel and that will be a truly locally made Fijian steel.”
He said while the word “mining” has been used to describe the sand extraction, the activity typically involved dredging of the river and the extraction of iron from silt.
“That’s exactly what AMEX is doing in Ba. AMEX is actually extracting iron ore, they’re shipping iron ore out but what is shipped out can also be used locally.
“Right now our soil is going to China and other countries and they are making steel out of our soil. Why can’t we do this here? We already have a steel mill.”
The MOU between the two companies defines the “principal terms and conditions for the annual purchase of 30,000 tonnes of magnetite concentrate from Sigatoka with the purchase price to be negotiated by the parties at the time of purchase.”
A local landowning unit has renewed calls to stop the development, saying it will oppose any sand mining activity in the area.
