The Fiji Museum has called on Government to halt the proposed Sigatoka Iron Sands Mining project, warning that sand extraction could accelerate erosion and expose burials and archaeological deposits across the Sigatoka Sand Dunes.
In a letter to Environment Minister Lynda Tabuya and Minister for Heritage and Arts Charan Jeath Singh, Fiji Museum CEO Armando Lowe urged the Government to review the project’s potential impact on the Sigatoka Sand Dunes National Park and the wider dune system.
Mr Lowe called on Government to withhold approval of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) and any mining lease for special prospecting licence SPL 1495 in its current form.
He also urged authorities to extend the public review period beyond October 30, 2026, publish the full EIA online, and allow the Fiji Museum to conduct an independent archaeological impact assessment and protect the Sigatoka Sand Dunes under the Preservation of Objects of Archaeological and Palaeontological Interest Act.
Mr Lowe said the special prospecting licence issued to Magma Mines Pte Ltd covered 2523 hectares, an area comparable to Suva.
Although the licence excluded the national park, he said it did not protect the wider dune system, which contained significant archaeological deposits.
“The archaeological deposits of the dunes do not stop at the park fence,” he said.
“The national park covers only around half of the dune system, and the richest archaeology lies at the eastern end of the dunes closest to the river mouth and the license area.”
Mr Lowe warned that large-scale extraction of sand from the river, Koroua Island and the delta could deprive the dunes of the sediment needed to sustain them.
He said this could accelerate erosion, exposing and scattering burials and archaeological deposits across the dune system, threatening an important part of Fiji’s archaeological heritage.
