‘Treat Mine As Your Own’
■ Stakeholders, like employees, are the most important component of the entire operation, Vatukoula Gold Mines Pte Limited chairman, Yingbin Ian He said.
Fiji’s only gold mine has called on its 1400 employees to treat the company as its own asset. Vatukoula Gold Mines Pte Limited chairman, Dr Yingbin Ian He, said shareholders did not collect returns on their investment via dividends, as they continued to inject into the company over the past decade. “It’s really the employees and the Government that gain on the receiving end of this economic benefit,” he said.
Dr Ian He, often referred to as Dr Ian, holds a doctorate in mineral process engineering. An experienced mining executive, he is skilled in mining investment, mergers and acquisitions, and gold, copper, coal, corporate governance. “We have to take care of the employees,” he told SunBiz in an exclusive interview.
“If the company cannot sustain them, if the company shuts down, the shareholders won’t suffer most, because their investment is a small part of the total
In the past 10 years, Vatukoula Gold Mines
Pte Limited has invested more than $300 million, not including its recent announcement of a FJ$67.6 million capital projects that it rolls out over the next year and half. asset.
“Shareholders are big, they have lots of money, they can afford to lose it.”
But stakeholders, like employees, are the most important component of the entire operation, Dr Ian He said.
“The company is more important for us, than the investors,” he said.
“For employees, like myself, if we lose the investors, we lose employment income, which impacts the entire income for us.”
The stakeholders, which in this case are the employees, lose their livelihood, when it is dependent on the company, Dr Ian He said.
The community also stands to lose, he said.
“For every direct mining employee, an indirect service is impacted,” Dr Ian He said.
“As a rule of thumb, every manufacturing employment generates another three to four service-employment.”
He likened mining to a manufacturing business where ore was extracted as a raw material, to produce gold, as a final product.
“I tell the employees, we have to work hard,” Dr Ian He said.
Vatukoula Gold Mines Pte Limited took over the reins of the company in 2007, after its African operator, Emperor, called it day on the back of economically untenable concerns in the face of gold prices at the time.
“In 2006, the mines closed over claims that ore was no longer available,” Dr Ian He said.
“But the mine reopened in 2007, and has continued since.
“That’s 15 years.”
Exploration activities keep the mines going after it has completed its 20-year cycle.
A mine’s lifespan, as guided by universal practices, runs for 20 years.
Vatukoula Gold has operated for the past 85-years, where gold continues to be discovered.
In the past 10 years, Vatukoula Gold Mines Pte Limited has invested more than $300 million, not including its recent announcement of a US$30million (FJ$67.6 million) capital development projects that rolls out over the next year and half.
With 15 years already into its Vatukoula venture, Dr Ian He said: “The current resources are enough to sustain us for another 10 years.
“During that period, we will not be idle; we continue to drill, and to explore.”