The vanua o Betoraurau Sabeto Environment Committee has urged a sweeping constitutional change to return ownership of mineral royalties from the State to indigenous landowners, arguing the current legal framework prevents fair distribution of mining benefits to iTaukei communities. Committee chairman Don Natabe made the call during a recent public consultation on reforms to Fiji’s Mining Act, saying the Constitution’s current provision that vests royalties in the State must be removed.
“We need to change the Constitution and remove the provision which states the ownership of royalties belongs to the State,” Natabe told the consultation, arguing that existing laws do not reflect iTaukei rights over natural resources. He warned the State ownership clause creates technical and legal hurdles for Land Owning Units (LOUs) when extraction moves below the surface and mining tunnels cross multiple customary boundaries.
Natabe described the practical difficulties landowners face in apportioning royalties when subterranean workings traverse several mataqali and tokatoka. “When you look at the landowning units on the surface, you can divide them but beneath that … the mining activity goes across several LOUs,” he said, adding that miners cannot practically segregate how much each tokatoka or LOU should receive. “How do we calculate what percentage of royalty goes to the LOU when the ownership belongs to those LOUs? That is another conversation in itself because the miners themselves cannot segregate how much percentage the various tokatoka are getting.”
As part of their recommendations, the Betoraurau committee wants administrative control of land and mineral resources moved back to the Ministry of iTaukei Affairs. Natabe urged drafters of the new Mining Act to “take that into consideration,” calling for management to be consolidated under a single ministry “independent of direct State responsibility.” The proposal seeks to place oversight, management and distribution of resource-derived benefits within an indigenous administration rather than under existing State-controlled structures.
The submission comes amid a broader resurgence of iTaukei claims over land and resources. In January the Government formally returned more than 3,100 acres of ancestral Vitogo land to its original landowning units, a move praised by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka as restoring identity and justice to affected communities. Advocates and landowners have also long complained about fragmented sector governance, with officials previously noting disjointed planning among bodies such as the iTaukei Land Trust Board, Forestry Department and various ministries.
If adopted, the committee’s demands would touch on fundamental legal arrangements in Fiji and are likely to provoke extensive debate. Restoring royalty ownership to LOUs would require constitutional amendment and detailed rules for calculating and distributing payments where subterranean mineral rights cross customary boundaries. The recommendations will join other submissions received during the Mining Act consultation as lawmakers and officials consider how to modernise mining law while addressing customary land rights.
For now, the Betoraurau committee’s call marks a clear escalation in the push by some iTaukei groups to reclaim control over both surface and subsurface resources. Its proposals will be among the contentious issues shaping the next phase of consultations and any legislative drafting that follows.
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