Vatukoula

Vatukoula (meaning "gold rock" in Fijian), is a gold mining settlement in Fiji, 9 km inland from the Town of Tavua on Viti Levu, the main Fiji island (home to the national capital Suva and its international airport Nadi).

Vatukoula may be viewed historically as the cradle of the modern gold mining industry in Fiji. The discovery of gold in the Tavua district is attributed to Baron de Este, who found it in the Nasivi River in 1872. Some 20 years later, New Zealand prospector Fielding, began a systematic search along the Nasivi river. However, discovery of gold in commercial quantities in 1932 at Vatukoula, is attributed to Scottish prospector Bill Borthwick. A "gold rush" ensued – "pegs denoting claims went up everywhere" – from all the Fiji islands, "hundreds of people – villagers, shopkeepers and city dwellers – arrived at the diggings".

In 1934, a new Mining Ordinance to regulate the fledgling industry was introduced by the British colonial administration. In the same year, the Emperor Gold Mining Company Ltd. established its operations in Vatukoula, followed in 1935 by the Loloma (Fiji) Gold Mines, N.L., and then by Fiji Mines Development Ltd. (later to become Dolphin Mines.Ltd.). These developments ushered in a "mining boom" for Fiji, with gold production rising more than a hundred-fold, from 931.4 oz in 1934 to 107,788.5 oz in 1939, an order of magnitude then comparable to the output of New Zealand and the eastern Australian states. The Ordinance also gave rise to a Mines Inspectorate, His Majesty's Colonial Mines Service recruiting Australian Frank TM White to set up a Mines Department in Suva. By 1939 White (as Inspector of Mines) initiated a geological survey of Viti Levu, resulting in Fiji's first geological survey map, published in 1943. Citing and building on this work, the mineralisation (geology) of Fiji was systematically reviewed by a successor, Mines Inspector James FA Taylor, in 1953. And in the same year, a more detailed review of the geology of the Vatukoula Goldfield (also known as the Tavua Goldfield) was published by A Blatchford, geologist for the Emperor Gold Mining Company Ltd.; mining and milling operations were also reviewed in detail by their respective company superintendents. Both open-pit and underground mining were carried out in Vatukoula.

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