EITI Mainstreaming and Government Online Repository Portals

At the Mining Indaba last week, new versions of the Online Repository portals were presented by the Governments of Ghana, Mali, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The Online Repository portals publish the entire mining license registry, owner details and payments data directly from the mining cadastre system.

The new Online Repository portal design is refining a standard set and developed by Sierra Leone, who launched the first Online Repository in 2012. The portals automatically publish data directly from the Mining Cadastre Administration System (MCAS), which is now in use by mining authorities in nine countries. The portals publish details of each license, individual payments and a company profile.

By systematically publishing the mining cadastre and revenue data online, the portals help meet the EITI mainstreaming strategy. Royalties and beneficial ownership data are also included, when the respective mining authority processes such data in the MCAS system.

Almost 5,000 users have registered for the portals, of which 65% are mining companies and investors, 8% are civil society representatives and the remaining are research institutions and private individuals. The high number of investors and mining companies shows how important the portal has become for attracting investment, as companies monitor who is applying for what and where, in order to get a much better understanding of the sector.

The new Online Repository portal technology is using the new RDx data exchange standard, which allows automated publication of data from the government MCAS system to the portal. This means users can see the same data as what the mining authority has in MCAS, usually within the same day.

• Mali (DNGM): https://mali.revenuedev.org
• Ghana (Minerals Commission): https://ghana.revenuedev.org
• Liberia (Ministry of Lands, Mine and Energy): https://liberia.revenuedev.org
• Sierra Leone (National Minerals Agency): https://sierraleone.revenuedev.org

Aasmund Andersen is the Managing Director of the Revenue Development Foundation, a non-profit consultancy organisation that works to enhance revenue for low-income countries. Andersen has over 15 years of experience in government capacity development projects, mostly with the United Nations Development Programme in Africa and South-East Asia. For more information, see https://revenuedevelopment.org/