Black sand mining by a Chinese owned company called Amex Resources Ltd has been happening at the Ba River Delta on the north of Viti Levu for most of the past two years.
Another project, by a Fijian subsidiary of Australian company Dome Gold Mines, is exploring black sand deposits near the Sigatoka Sand Dunes on the south coast of the main island.
That site is adjacent to the Sigatoka Sand Hills National Park, which is reported to be close to World Heritage status.
Environmental advocacy group, Jubilee Australia, is calling for the mining to stop, saying the communities have not been properly informed about the implications of the projects.
Oil Change International
Press Release
Laurie van der Burg, laurie [at] priceofoil [dot] org
Export credit agencies and states potentially at risk of climate litigation over finance for fossil fuels
BRUSSELS – Export credit agencies (ECAs) – and the governments that oversee them – could be in violation of their international legal obligations if they do not take action to reduce their financing of fossil fuel-related activities imminently. That is the main conclusion of a new legal opinion published today, two days before ministers gather at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue. The opinion, which was commissioned by Oil Change International, for the first time lays out the international law obligations of ECAs that are responsible for tens of billions of dollars per year in support for fossil fuels.
Oil Change International
Is this even legal? Governments propping up fossil fuel production with public money. May 4, 2021By LaurieBlog Post, Featured, News, Stop Funding Fossils
Despite the need to rapidly wind-down fossil fuels to avert the worst of the climate crisis, governments worldwide continue to prop up fossil fuel production with huge sums of public money. The biggest form of public support is provided through Export Credit Agencies (ECAs), which exist to support domestic industries in doing business overseas. ECAs are little known to the public and yet they provide almost fourteen times more finance for fossil fuels (USD 40 billion) compared to clean energy (USD 2.9 billion) every year.
Environmental groups in Japan and Australia are calling on Japan’s export credit agency not to offer support for a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) project near Darwin, as the fossil-fuel reliant nation pledges to become a global leader on fighting climate change alongside the new US administration.
Much of the gas from the proposed Barossa LNG project, being developed by Adelaide-based energy company Santos, is earmarked for export to Japan. The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) disclosed in February that it is considering some form of support for the development.
Japanese behemoth Mitsubishi has already struck an agreement with Santos to buy 1.5 million tonnes of gas per annum from the project, and Japanese power company JERA will eventually have a 12.5% stake in the enterprise.