A Vatukoula resident has urged stricter financial transparency and mandatory landowner involvement for any mining activity on native land, telling a government review panel that communities deserve to know exactly how much companies are earning from resources extracted on their land.
Ponipate Ravula made the appeal during a public consultation in Tavua on the review of the Mining Act 1965 and the Quarries Act 1939. He told members of the review committee that transparency should cover payments across the board — how much companies pay to the government, to communities and to workers — and that such disclosure is a practice already used internationally. “Vatukoula has been mined for more than 90 years and for a mining company to still be here 90 years later means someone is getting money from it. This is why financial transparency is important within the extraction industry,” Ravula said.
Beyond revenue reporting, Ravula insisted landowners must be central to the process from the outset. He called for clear requirements that landowners give consent for exploration ventures and be present in discussions “at every stage,” warning that communities do not want to “one day wake up and there are machines moving around our land taking out things we did not consent to.” His comments put a spotlight on the long-running tensions in mining communities such as Vatukoula, where multi-decade operations have raised questions about how benefits are shared.
The Tavua consultation is part of a broader review of mining and quarrying legislation that dates back decades, and Ravula’s submissions reflect a wider push by iTaukei landowners and stakeholders for reforms that increase returns and oversight. In recent months, landowner groups and agencies have pressed for modernisation of old land laws and fairer compensation arrangements in other development contexts, signalling a growing demand for tighter governance and benefit-sharing across land and resource projects.
Ravula’s emphasis on financial transparency aligns with international trends toward greater disclosure in extractive industries, including publication of payments and community benefit agreements, which proponents argue improves accountability and deters corruption. Local advocates say such measures would help communities verify that promised royalties, rents or compensation are actually delivered, and ensure that mining operations are consistent with landowner expectations and customary rights.
The review committee is collecting input from the public as it considers amendments to laws enacted in 1965 and 1939. Submissions like Ravula’s are likely to feature in deliberations about how to balance investor certainty with stronger safeguards for landowners and communities. For Vatukoula and other longstanding mining areas, the debate comes at a time when calls for clearer rules on consent, revenue transparency and community participation are becoming part of mainstream policy discussions.
Ravula’s testimony in Tavua reinforces the view among many rural landowners that legal reform should not only address technical licensing issues but also ensure that the economic benefits of extraction are transparent and directly accountable to the people whose land is used. The review committee has yet to publish a timetable for legislative changes.
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