The Nasomo Landowners Trust received their third payment of the fair share of gold and silver royalties by the Minister of Lands and Mineral Resources Hon. Ashneel Sudhakar this morning.
A total of $57,002.47 was paid out for the period from December 2018 to February 2019 which is to be equitably shared amongst 123 trust members for leasing their land to Vatukoula Gold Mines.
Speaking at the event, Minister Sudhakar said the payout is aligned to regulation 5 – Fair share of royalties of the Fair Share of Mineral Royalties Act (FSMRA) 2018 which states that 80 per cent of mineral royalties to be given to landowning units and 20 per cent to be retained by the state.
“Mineral ownership remains vested in the State, but the government saw it fit as compared to previous governments, to recognize the contribution of the landowners that allow the use of their land to facilitate mineral development,” Minister Sudhakar said.
“This in itself entails landowners as partners in national economic development and nation building,” Minister Sudhakar added.
“The spirit of Section 30 of the 2013 Constitution inculcates the government’s aspirations for socio-economic empowerment of landowners that facilitate mineral development and mining on their land and the enactment of the (FSMRA) 2018 provides the framework for the sharing of benefits, derived by the State, with landowning units that hosts mining projects on their lands.”
Minister Sudhakar encouraged the members of the landowning units to support Vatukoula Gold Mines as it continues to make significant capital investment to modernize mining infrastructure, improve underground working conditions, ensure cost-effective power generation and also improve gold recovery in its milling process.
“The Mine has plans to ramp up production and any increase in gold production will result in increased earnings for the mining company as well as the State, which will result in increased share royalties to the Nasomo Landowning Trust,” Minister Sudhakar said.
Minister Sudhakar also advised the recipients to sustainably manage the funds to ensure their future generation continue to reap the benefits of the mineral royalties in the near future.