Gold royalty payout for 120 villagers
MORE than 120 villagers of Nasomo in Vatukoula received a royalty payment of more than $500 each on Friday.
Lands Minister Jone Usamate said this was the eighth payment made by Vatukoula Gold Mines Ltd to the landowners.
“The Nasomo Landowners Trust Mineral Fair Share Payout is the result of the gold and silver mined from beneath Nasomo land for the period of March 2020 to May 2020 with a total of approximately $61,650 to be equitably distributed or shared amongst 123 Nasomo Landowners Trust members,” he said.
“This payout is in harmony to Section 5 of the Fair Share of Mineral Royalties Act 2018 which explains that 80 per cent of mineral royalties be given to landowning units or customary fishing rights holders and 20 per cent retained by the State.”
He said since 2018, royalty payments had been paid out to landowners under that structure.
“From 2018 until today, a total mineral royalty fair share of approximately $6.5 million has been distributed to landowners and landowning units of which approximately $522,000 were paid to the Nasomo Landowners Trust.
“These royalties are earned predominantly from bauxite, gold and silver whereby approximately $1.6 million retained by the State.
“I wish to thank Vatukoula Gold Mines Ltd for its contribution to the Fijian economy during this challenging time.”
Nasomo Village headman Viliame Rokoraiba said villagers had been able to assist their families build homes and pay bills with the royalty payments.
“As a community, we were able to build a new kitchen for our community hall and upgrade our kindergarten,” he said.