Chief Executive Officer of the recently established ASGM GUYANA – Artisanal Small Gold Miners Guyana (ASGM) John Applewhite-Hercules earlier this week told the Stabroek Business that the focus of his new company is to work with both current and prospective small miners and potential investors in pursuit of their investment ambitions in the gold mining sector.
Speaking with the Stabroek Business, Applewhite-Hercules disclosed that ASGM Guyana was specifically concerned with equipping both current and intended small miners to understand and comply with the country’s mining/environmental laws and codes of practice while equipping them with skills in map reading/GPS navigation, entrepreneurship and mineral prospecting for gold and other minerals.
These skills, Applewhite-Hercules told the Stabroek Business, will be imparted through symposia, workshops and tailor-made short courses. ASGM is also seeking to be associated with the creation of financing opportunities for the development of mining projects through joint ventures and partnerships with ASGM Guyana and its network of investment partners.
Applewhite-Hercules told the Stabroek Business that the objectives of ASGM Guyana are linked to the wider development of the artisanal and small mining sector. ASGM, he said, seeks to educate miners in pursuit of “the actual exercise of mining by providing them advice that would help them to make good on their investments.” All this, he said, will be done, in conjunction with “educating miners in the environmental and other practices and procedures that obtain in the country’s mining sector.”
The ASGM Chief Executive Officer told the Stabroek Business that the company “is really about helping miners to maximize meaningful returns on their investments while ensuring that their mining activities leave a footprint that is not hostile to environmental considerations nor to the lives and livelihoods of others who make a living from or reside in spaces in Guyana that are shared with the mining community.”
ASGM, at a forum for miners and prospective miners, where it was officially launched on February 6th, says clients can engage ASGM “on a consultancy basis” on matters pertaining to entering the gold mining sector and to access the ASGM and learn about the consultancy services that it offers. Prior to maximizing the effectiveness of their operations, investors “must first understand, that such consultancy services as the ASGM might offer, are underpinned by recommendations and advice that enables them to get the best that they can from their investments while recognizing and embracing the country’s mining regulations.”
Applewhite-Hercules, a former Senior Geologist with the Guyana Geology & Mines Commission (GGMC), served in various capacities there, his most recent position being that of Director of the Guyana Mining School. He served the GGMC for eighteen years, up to December 2023.
