An Australian Company, African Mutual Resources, has urged the Federal Government to adopt Blockchain Technology in the mining of gold to boost its diversification drive and to achieve sustainable economy.
The company’s Director, Lee Purves, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Tuesday.
Purves said blockchain technology, a digital ledger system, was a smart and transparent technology which would give buyers and sellers confidence in the gold business.
He said: “What it does is that it absorbs data from along a supply line, whether it is gold, digital location or the source and put it in the blockchain.
“Everybody involved in the chain will see what is there.
“If I am a gold seller or gold buyer, you don’t need to trust me anymore because the trust is in the system. You will see all the documentation.
“You can see what you have and I will see what you have.’’
He, however, expressed the company’s willingness to partner with the Federal Government to use the technology in the sector, adding that a similar system had been developed in Israel.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the company, Dr. Ade Kukoyi, said the country belonged to part of global community that should key into the technology.
Kukoyi said that the company had done some research on Nigeria and that the country had been losing a lot of revenue to artisans not working in the mainstream.
He said: “One thing we observed is that Nigeria government is losing a lot of revenue to activities of those that are in the ‘shadows’, those not operating in the mainstream.
“One such is in the mining sector and specifically gold. Reportedly, Nigeria is losing as much as 1.4 billion dollars in activities surrounding the illegal gold mining.
“The blockchain technology is reformatory; it will transform the way business is done and the underline theme of the technology is trust.
“Distrust activities will be brought to an end through blockchain technology if the Nigerian government will adopt it.”
In addition, he said the company would work with the government to elevate the status of the two gold laboratories in the country to attract world economy.
Kukoyi said it was worrisome that the two gold laboratories in Kaduna and Jos had not been recognised by the world market economy.
He explained: “Similar laboratory is in Ghana but it is recognised so we have presented our proposal to the Nigerian Mining Cadastre Office that African Mutual Resources will work with the Federal Government to elevate these institutions.
“We want the government to have the company as enabling partner so that we can be the mouth piece of the country internationally.’’
African Mutual Resources was established to increase efficiencies of scale within Africa’s resources and infrastructure.
It sees the technology, infrastructure and mining industries as complementary, and will seek to capitalise on their emerging relationship in the new markets.
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