Ministry engaging UK firm on regulatory system for gold industry

A United Kingdom-based company, Focus Link Ltd is currently engaging the Ministry of Natural Resources in discussions aimed at the realization of “an enduring solution” to the multi-faceted compliance and regulation challenges plaguing the gold-mining sector.

Stabroek Business understands that in recent days a three-member Focus Link team has been engaging Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman in discussions that could lead to the installation of a hi-tech system that will shore up the integrity of the sector’s regulatory regime.

What is being termed a Content Management System (CMS), AXIS Guyana, as the project is titled, is being spearheaded by a lead project team comprising Guyanese-born, London-based Accountants Colin Bascom and Charles Beresford and Information Technology Specialist John Venpin, Founder and Managing Director of the UK-based web development company Marylebone Design.

The system will seek to support statutory agencies in compliance-related issues and once implemented will include among its statutory users the Guyana Geology & Mines Commission (GGMC), the Guyana Gold Board (GGB), the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), the Bank of Guyana, the Financial Intelligence Unit, the State Assets Recovery Unit and the Special Organised Crime Unit.

Listed among the key benefits of the CMS are its capacity to create a one-stop shop that brings users, regulators and related agencies together under a regime that requires all statutory users to set up their profiles and submit periodic returns and which enables regulators to monitor and quickly flag submitted data.

The system will also bring a greater measure of transparency and accountability to the industry and include the ability to quickly provide data on mining operations in order to enable more efficient monitoring of land use and production activity. The CMS also boasts a capacity to provide real time data and prompt delivery of reports in order to improve compliance management and revenue collection.

Additionally, the system reportedly has a capacity to support data input and access anytime and anywhere in the world utilizing laptop or desktop devices or smartphone applications. Additionally, the CMS allows for prompt receipt and processing of submitted data in order to facilitate report production and special investigations.

AXIS Guyana will bring together key participants within a CMS that will be equipped with built-in controls designed to regulate the level of access for each participant as well as to mitigate the potential for fraudulent manipulation of data once it