Photo: Supplied
The Fiji government appointed administrator for Rabi Island is being called on to explain his apparent failure to consult over plans for a resumption of phosphate mining exploration on Banaba island.
The Rabi islanders are Banabans removed from the Kiribati Island at the end of World War Two by the British government because of the damage caused by mining.
Administrator Jacob Karutake is back on Rabi to talk to people about the allegations that he failed to consult before allowing Australian miner Centrex to begin exploring Banaba.
Karutake has claimed he did consult with all villages in Rabi back in May this year, but Rae Bainteiti of the Banaban Human Rights Network says this is a lie.
Karutake has also said "I will consult the people before mining commence".
"I have decided to proceed with exploration without consultation in the best interest of the people and I have advised Jacob Lanyon who has lobbied for Centrex to stay away from this. Mining and exploration are two different things," he said.
Bainteiti said exploration is clearly the initial step toward mining and that there is a strong community backlash to what Karutake has claimed.
He said in 2022 the Australian mining company Centrex was stopped by then acting Rabi administrator Filipe Bainimoli after the proposal was scrutinised by the Fiji government as posing a significant environmental impact.
The Network is calling for Karutake to provide a copy of the proposal for exploration that was signed with Centrex; to stop any exploration, to review the Banaban Settlement Act and to reinstate the Rabi Council of Leaders.
Rae Bainteiti Photo: RNZ Pacific / Kelvin Anthony
