The Zambian Ministry of Mines will this year implement a computerised system for the management of mining licensing information. And Managing Director of Spatial Dimension* based in South Africa, Bill Feast has said a computerised workflow approach system would lead to the easy availability of all relevant mining information.

In an interview, director of mines at the Ministry of Mines, Gerhad Kangamba said the European Union and World Bank have already allocated funds for the computerisation exercise. “A loan of US USD5 million had been allocated by the World Bank for the project which also has a component for the development of the gemstone sector while the European Union has also allocated some amount for the computerised system,” he said. Kangamba said the government was working on improving the management of mining licences to make the entire application process transparent. He said there was also need for the Ministry of Mines to have a reliable database and know the history of all mining applications. “The system could address all these issues,” he said.

And Feast said countries such as Mozambique and Tanzania have successfully computerised their mines’ ministries using a workflow approach. “In Mozambique, the Ministry of Mines is using the system and the necessary information can easily be accessed on a computer terminal,” Feast said. “Through this system, detailed history about a mine licensing application can be recorded and also allows the capturing of rich data. It also makes it easy to keep track of tasks, deadline and requirements,” he said. Feast said the system, whose demonstration was carried out at the Ministry of Mines yesterday, as a case study, is internet-based and relied on an integrated security mechanism. He said the system also allows easy modifications of past applications and licensing.

“The system works on the Windows Network with passwords which define user groups with appropriate rules and responsibilities,” he said. Feast said apart from ensuring transparency, elimination opportunities for corruption and providing full management rights, a computerised workflow approach ensures exclusivity of mineral rights and creates a greater investor friendly environment.

*Trimble acquired Spatial Dimension on September 2, 2015. FlexiCadastre is now part of the Landfolio software suite.