Tengy Eyes Tabuqalau Gold Prospects
INVESTORS CONFIDENT OF GOOD TAILWIND FOLLOWING FAVOURABLE FEEDBACK FROM RA CHIEFS
Chinese investors with interests in the local manufacturing sector are confident of their chances of securing rights to carry out gold exploration in Ra.
Tengy Mining, a subsidiary of Tengy Group, applied for a special prospecting licence to carry out gold exploration in what is now known as Tabuqalau.
Manager human resources and health, safety and environment Vakacegu Kalou said the group had consulted all seven villages that have a stake in the proposed site.
“The chiefs are all for it,” he said.
Renaming the area of interest
The tenement in question was renamed Tabuqalau, Mr Kalou said.
The move followed some concern over the proximity of the exploration site to the ancestral location at Nakauvadra.
Vatukacevaceva, a sacred ancestral site held dear to some landowners, is not close to the proposed tenement, Mr Kalou said.
“There are two sites involved in the exploration – Tabuka and Qalau,” Mr Kalou said.
“We have merged the two names to come up with a new one for the proposed site.”
A river that runs through the area of interest caused some concern for certain landowners, Mr Kalou said.
Tengy Mining subsequently dispatched a team that included experts from the Fiji Museum to carry out an assessment over the historical concerns of the area, he said.
The findings proved otherwise, Mr Kalou said.
The Tabuqalau project is Tengy’s first efforts at exploring for gold.
Limestone
The company had applied for a licence to prospect for limestone in Wainivesi, Tailevu.
A decision is pending on that application, Mr Kalou said.
Tengy Group closed its Lami and Lautoka cement factory operations in March following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In September, operations resumed. The sale of cement has picked up, he said.
Tengy is one of two local cement suppliers.
The group employs over 60 workers, with just a handful being Chinese, Mr Kalou said.
The company is now headed by James Zhen.