Fiji’s Mining Prospectivity High: Berukoff

Fiji could have more mines in the next 20 years, a world-class, seasoned investor has said.

But it needs to list on the world market, said Walter Berukoff, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Lion One Metals, the parent company of Lion One Limited’s Tuvatu alkaline gold project in Sabeto.

“We get paid by world currencies, at world price,” he said, in an exclusive interview with SunBiz, in Nadi, this week.

A lot has changed in the industry since he joined the sector in the 1960s, he said.

“Technology has changed, but not the mining Act,” Mr Berukoff said.

“It’s very different from 17 years ago.”

Still, the sacrifices made in the years leading up to recent developments at Tuvatu, have been worth it, he said.

“This is the best mine I’ve worked in,” Mr Berukoff said.

“This one is world class.

“What we’ve done here is what I said we would do – not flood the market with expatriates.

“In the past 15 years, we have had two expats as key people who passed on the knowledge to locals.

“It is great to have Fijians on board, and to see their passion.”

Employment figures at Lion One’s Tuvatu alkaline gold project have risen from 50 staff last year, to the current figure of 160.

Over the next two years, the number of employees at the mine are estimated to grow to 300.

“There is credible talent here, with education at a good level,” Mr Berukoff said.

“People want to do better.”

A miner hold up a core filled with gold at the Tuvatu gold mines in Sabeto, Nadi on March 18 2022. Photo- Leon Lord

Strategic management: Investors see potential in Tuvatu operation

Lion One’s Tuvatu alkaline gold prospects could be getting a shot in the arm, following a site visit from a Canadian alkaline gold expert.

Eric Jensen’s name is synonymous with alkaline gold, and global mineral exploration.

He has over 20 years of industry experience in various capacities.

Mr Jensen is Canadian company, EMX Royalty Corp’s general manager for exploration and international operations.

His research and academic experience in mineral deposits relate to alkaline magmatism, just to name a few. Part of his work involves strategic investments.

“We are always looking around the world at other companies that we think are doing good work, and comprise good teams, and good as- sets,” Mr Jensen said.

“We can make investments into those assets to help them along.

“Those investments come in the form of both money, capital, but also we like to contribute.

“When we make investments, we also like to contribute expertise, to the extent that it’s welcomed and useful for the partner.”

At an exploration conference in Canada, he found Fiji’s geology remarkable.

“My personal situation is that I spent a lot of my early career - a couple decades - working on the type of gold deposits that you have here in Fiji,” Mr Jensen said.

“There’s a very rare, very specific type of gold deposit here.

“I spent a lot of my early career studying these in detail, working with advising mining companies, and how to explore for these, and how to flick their development.”

He was invited by Lion One for a site inspection at Tuvatu, Nadi.

“What we’re trying to figure out is if this is something our company would want to invest in,” Mr Jensen said.

The geological similarities can be found in Vatukoula, he said.

“We come in to look at things at a high level, to get an understanding of what’s there,” Mr Jensen said.

“And this looks like a very good project.

“The initial impressions are very favourable.”

For Lion One to set Tuvatu production date at just two years into operations is “fast”, he said.

“By global mining standards, the average time from discovery to production in a gold deposit of 15 years is normal,” Mr Jensen said.

Although Tuvatu was discovered some years ago, work on the site actively picked up a few years later, he said.

“That’s a remarkably fast time frame,” Mr Jensen said.

“There was a known deposit here, which was helpful.

“They’ve been expanding that.”

The historically small deposit was developed over time to see if it could grow to a size where one could make a positive development decision, Mr Jensen said.

“I believe they’ve done that now,” he said.

“They’re still working on it.

“But it has all the signs of growth, which is great.

“Not all systems work that way.”

The familiarisation exercise by EMX Royalty Corp has shown signs that the prospects at Tuvatu may be favourable, Mr Jensen said.

“We think it would be of interest to us from an investment stand-point,” he said.

“It looks good.”