Law firm, Cameron & Shepherd, following an evaluation of the Guyana Gold Board’s (GGB) dealer licensing process, has concluded that no special consideration was given to Adolphus Mining Inc., as all applicants were subject to the same procedures.
The services of the firm were solicited by the GGB following media reports which circulated regarding the issuance of the licence.
The GGB had defended the award, saying that a 2011 gold incident connected to it did not result in any charges or fines. It had added that in the instance of Adolphus Mining Inc., GGB’s management and directorate conducted the required due diligence, which is done for all existing dealers and any applicants for the issuance of a dealer’s licence.
In a press release yesterday, GGB indicated that it had hired the law firm to review and evaluate its licensing process, to determine whether all the components of the process had been adhered to, and whether any exceptions or special considerations had been granted to any approved dealers, particularly Adolphus Mining Inc., the company under scrutiny.
The firm, in a letter dated May 30, and which was released by the GGB indicated that it had reviewed the files provided, and was satisfied that no applicants appeared to have been given special or relaxed consideration, as they all appeared to have followed the same procedures.
It noted that the GGB has a standard procedure for evaluating applications, which consists of providing the applicants with the necessary documents, collating submitted documents, assessing the documents for authenticity and interviewing them. Following this, the applications are considered by the board of directors and a recommendation is made to the minister.
The firm said that it was satisfied that not only were the applicants fully aware of the requirements of their applications, and had followed the requisite procedure in their submissions, but that they had also provided the documentation they were required to provide.
It was noted that applications submitted for review were those of: Adamantium Metals Inc., GBTI Property Holding Inc., Pure Diamond Inc., El Dorado Trading, Adolphus Mining Inc., Dinar Trading, Gold Bar Development & Consulting Inc., Excel Minerals Inc. and Mohamed’s Enterprise.
