THE Tuvatu gold mine in Sabeto in the hinterlands of Nadi will be bigger than Vatukoula, according to its Canadian owner Lion One Metals Ltd.
In an exclusive interview with this newspaper this week, Lion One founder and president Walter Berukoff said Lion One’s decision to bring in Arete Capital Advsors to manage and operate the mine will take Tuvatu up another level of expansion and production.
“Yes it will,” Mr Berukoff said when asked if Tuvatu will be bigger than Fiji’s oldest gold mine in Vatukoula, which has been operating for over 90 years.
“I believe that this mine will be generational and it will probably be in production as long as Vatukoula.”
Fiji, he said, is fortunate to be in the gold business at the current time when world gold price is hitting record highs, a trend he believes will continue.
“This is the first time that we as a small company can make a small profit,” Mr Berukoff said.
“Because we’ve made such a huge investment in the project itself, our investment is now closer to $C300million or $F500million, so you know, we have to pay back a lot of our capital.
“But we are looking forward to a profitable existence because of the price of gold. Gold over $5000 makes us very profitable and gold even higher than that…all our previous work was done at $2500, $2600 per ounce of gold and it’s double that today.
“So we’re fortunate and Fiji is fortunate to be in the gold business – it’s been great, it’s going to be great because there’s a new world coming and it is in place now and because gold is high, the US dollar is devaluing everyday.”
The current high gold price, which hit a historic high of $US5500 ($F12,141) per ounce last week, had also made it sensible to bring in Arete Capital, whose specialty in taking old or abandoned mine and turning them into profitable entities is well documented.
“They’re a little bit nervous about this one but they love it because it’s got all the new equipment and it’s a new mine, so they’re coming in to help us expand (the mine),” Mr Berukoff said.
“They’re investing $15m ($C15m) and taking a 9.9 per cent position in the company – not control, just 9.9, and they’re specifically brought in because we want an expansion of our plants and things of that nature, that’s being done right away and we’re looking to do far more exploration to eventually move up to 600 to 700 tonnes a day and hopefully move up to doubling our gold production per year.
“From there, we’re looking at plans to expand it further and they have the ability to do that.
“So I needed the engineering skills, the management skills that are modern and up to date.”
Much is hinging on Arete Capital’s involvement in Tuvatu and its new team that will manage the mine will be headed by Arete Capital Advisors chief executive officer Campbell Olsen.
“As chairman and founder of this company, this is a new milestone for our company, and now bringing in specialism necessary to make it into a major gold producing mine,” Mr Berukoff said.
“This is the step that I needed to take it to the next level, so they’re brought aboard to take us to that next level.”
