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FIJI’S EMPEROR MINES EYES PNG ACQUISITIONS

SUVA, Fiji (Fiji Times, Oct. 5) – Emperor Mines in Fiji has confirmed it is considering a proposal from DRDGold [Durban Roodepoort Deep] to acquire the latter's Papua New Guinea assets.

[PIR editor’s note: In Papua New Guinea, DRD owns and operates the Tolukuma mine, and has a 20 percent interest in the Porgera mine. In Fiji, it has a 19.8 percent stake in Emperor Mines Limited.]

Jim Wall, chairman of Emperor Mines Limited, parent of Emperor Gold Mines in Vatukoula, Fiji, confirmed this in a release to the Australian Stock Exchange last Friday.

"While the company would not ordinarily comment on incomplete proposals or speculation, this announcement has been made as DRDGold has issued a cautionary announcement regarding the proposal as required under the Johannesburg Stock Exchange listing rules, its home exchange," Mr. Wall said. "If agreement can be reached on acceptable terms, the proposal will be subject to a...

HONIARA, Solomon Islands (Solomon Star, Oct. 5) – The executive director of the Geneva-based organization Global Fund, Professor Richard Feachem, arrived in the Solomon Islands yesterday for a weeklong visit to see the progress of three projects funded by the organization.

Global Fund supports three programs addressing HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in the Solomon Islands through the Ministry of Health.

Professor Feachem, a British national, was appointed the first Executive Director of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria at the Second Meeting of the Board of Global Fund in April 2002.

He took up his position in July 2002. This is his first ever visit to the country.

Solomon Islands is one of eleven countries in the Pacific that has benefited from funds made available through the Global Fund.

Of three components - HIV, tuberculosis and malaria - malaria is the most significant in the Solomons because of its prevalence....

SUVA, Fiji (Fiji TV, Oct. 6) – Fiji’s age-old tradition of carving tanoa – ceremonial wooden kava bowls - is under serious threat, conservationists say.

A study by conservation group World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has discovered that the island renowned for this tradition, Kabara, has overharvested its Vesi trees.

[PIR editor’s note: Kabara is a very small island located in the Lau group in the southeastern part of Fiji.]

According to the organization, just 2.2 square kilometers of the island’s former resource of 28.2 square kilometers of Vesi forest still remains.

With most of the island’s population of about 500 dependent on wood carving, alarm bells are ringing.

People on Kabara are now being taught a new word, sustainability.

The high number of wild goats on the islands eating vesi offshoots hasn't helped either in regeneration.

Another major contributing factor is that 22 percent of households on Kabara own chainsaws, and everyone...

By Peter Wagner

HONOLULU (Pacific Islands Report, Oct. 6) – Nauru President Ludwig Scotty is calling on the world’s donor nations for assistance in the wake of the tiny country’s near bankruptcy, saying "we have a young and growing population that deserves a future."

Scotty made his appeal at the recent United Nations General Assembly session in New York, where he addressed the membership with an outline of Nauru’s recovery goals.

"Nauru calls upon the developed world to match their rhetoric with action when it comes to assisting the needs of the developing world, whether this is through development financing, debt relief, or both," he said. "The developed world has an obligation to share their resources with the developing world."

Nauru, formerly a British territory, is the smallest independent republic in the world. The country has relied heavily on its phosphate mining industry to generate national revenues through exports to South Africa, India,...