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Pringle worked with Owen at Oxiana on Due Dilligence and supervised drilling at Sepon.

From The Age:

Fiji may be paradise found
GARIMPEIRO
Barry FitzGerald
November 28, 2005
FIJI has never been able to capitalise on its rich mineral endowment. Two coup d'etats since independence in 1970 and simmering ethnic tensions might not have damaged the flow of tourism dollars all that much, but as a place to spend exploration dollars, Fiji has lost out big-time.

Despite the exploration potential of the place, Emperor's Vatukoula mine on Viti Levu is the only mining operation of note, having produced more than 7.5 million ounces of gold after 70 years of continuous production.

But the advance in the gold price to 18-year highs — and copper's boom run — means that the risk/reward equation has swung back in Fiji's favour, a fact best demonstrated by the decision of Geopacific Resources NL to come to market looking for $4.5 million (48 per cent of the company on listing).

Geopacific has been knocking around Fiji as an unlisted private company since 1986, with the 1996 discovery of the Tuvatu gold deposit (1.6 million tonnes grading 8.5 grams of gold a tonne) its biggest success.

Tuvatu was sold to Emperor, and more recently it was bounced across to Alcaston Mining NL in a $14.2 million cash and share deal. Needless to say, a repeat performance of a Tuvatu-sized discovery won't do Geopacific any harm given it will be valued at $9.2 million on listing (at the issue price of 20¢ a share).

Among its early backers is Owen Hegarty, managing director of the fast growing Oxiana.

Hegarty holds 3.9 per cent of the pre-float issued capital, an investment that reflects his mateship with Geopacific managing director and former Oxiana exploration manager Ian Pringle.