Happy New Year or Happy Birthday Georgette

I still cannot remember who gave me the tip at RSG, but l recall l had to see her for the way forward. As it was, l had left RSG as Munks didn't think l had to be paid for 3 months of work. I had a family to feed, though l had just finished my undergraduate Programme, and also, I knew my worth, and wouldn't let Munks add me to his modern day slaves. So l quit RSG, and left the field. Technically Munks still owes me 3 months of work. I still haven't been paid for those months at Akorekeri on the RandGold Project.

I was narrating the story to someone who sided with me and said, don't mind Munks, go and see Georgette. Who is she and where can l find her? I asked. "Go to Birim Goldfields and look for Mike or Georgette".

So l went to Birim Goldfields. I was a walking distance. I met Mike. Mike said he wasn't in charge of HR. So Georgette was the best person, and he pointed to her office. I had my CV in hand so l entered her office. A very huge dog the size of an adult pig welcomed me. I was afraid it. "Don't worry, she is friendly." Georgette said and walked passed it as she ordered her to go to the corner of the room. The dog obliged with absolute obedience. 

Georgette wore a snow white blouse made of quality cotton and a gray short khaki shorts. Yes, she was at work! For a moment l forgot l was in an office till l heard "Yes, how can l hep you", as she finds her way to her desk. Her eyes were strong and popping, and she maintained an enquiring impatient gaze. 

Between the dog, and my thoughts and her questions, l was disarmed. I hadn't even rehearsed what l was going to say. I mumbled something and paused, and then swallowed saliva. I didn't know my throat was that patched. I blinked quickly and continously, as l shook my head from left to right firmly and forced the last thick saliva down my throat. It sounded like l was clearing my throat. I started afresh. I told her my name, and that I was a fresh graduate and was checking in if they had any openings, or if not, l will drop in my CV. Her hand was already up, and I extended the envelope containing my CV to her. She took it, and placed it on the right edge of her table. I stood there for a second and she said "That's it". 

"Anything else"? She asked. "No" I responded. It wasn't communicated, but I got the non-verbal message clearly, that l had to leave, and so did I. 

That was how I met Georgette. That was my very first encounter. 

A month later, l received a call from Georgette. She sounded a billion times cheerful and excited about something. After confirming that l was the one who dropped my CV a month ago and exchanging pleasantries, she said she had some good news for me. She said it wasn't my typical field work, but it was still in the industry. It was more of sales and administration, basically business development with a lot of communications and correspondence. I immediately recalled my days as the President of the Geology Students' Association and knew that that experience was going to be handy. She sounded like she was worried whether l will like it. In effect, she was selling the product to me. So l saved her the trouble. I said l was game when she said it was a South African company making expanding into Ghana with the sale and manufacturing of Geological Assessories. It was Corstor. 

What a coincidence. Ten months earlier, I attended a mining treat show, and met Dennis Blewett of Corstor. I was planning to buy some Compasses for the Department of Geology as our legacy as a student association from Dennis. Unfortunately, Corstor South Africa couldn't give us rebates. So l made the purchase via my cousin in the US. But  through that encounter, Dennis and I established a relationship. So you can imagine my excitement when Georgette mentioned Corstor. I already knew Corstor and that added to my appeal. 

The following week after her phone call, I was back in her office. My assignment was to start an office for Corstor at Osu. I was to hold the fort till Georgette resigns from Birim and joins me. She was the substantive Country Manager of Corstor. 

There I was. I had an office to myself. My responsibilities were myriads. Warehouse management, invoicing, customer service, business development, Office Administration, communications, start ups, and what have you. It was exciting. I reported directly to Georgette, replied to emails in Australia and South Africa for months till Georgette had to resign honorably from Birim by satisfying the agreed condition for termination.

She joined later and we developed the business in Ghana. Later l wanted field experience and left Corstor. 

Fast forward to 5 years later. 

The industry had suffered a downturn. Georgette was still in touch with all the professionals she had worked with. She had a idea and nurtured it. It was to stay in touch with the people she worked with. She got like-minded friends on board and that idea became the Accra Mining Network.

Subsequently, in 2015, she proceeded to using that as a blue print to forming Women In Mining Ghana. In 2019 she became the President of the Association of Women In Mining Africa last year. 

Please join me in celebrating the birthday of 

Dr. Mrs. Georgette Barnes Sakyi-Addo.

* Co-founder of Accra Mining Network 

* Founder of Women In Mining Ghana

* President of AWIMA

* Executive Director at Georgette Barnes Ltd. 

Every 31st of December, she celebrates her birthday which ushers her into the new year. Whether it is a birthday or a new year, one cannot really tell. 

But I say, Happy Birthday Madam, may this day commence yet another fulfilling milestone.

Mine Gold Pricing Forecast

My grandfather once burst out with an allegoric advice to his grandchildren. He said “anything that is not used will die”. He expatiated this by saying that “anything that is not constantly nor periodically used nor oiled, begins to deteriorate and experience eventual demise”. He asked us to think wild about everything that could be included under the ambits of his statement. He allowed us to think about machines, parts of which rust and eventually stop working if not used. He likened it even to the human body, that sedentary lifestyle could make a young person look old and eventually develop unhealthy semblance which could lead to an early death. So, he encouraged us to have healthy and athletic lifestyle. He even compared his philosophy with the mind, that the mind that is not constantly stimulated will eventually become weak. Such a weak mind will not be able to contribute to the invention of anything new and so could easily be considered dead. For this reason, he challenged us to pursue academic adventures and have the mind always stimulated. 

I took this advice to the bone. So, over the years, I have consciously challenged myself with one Professional Development Short course or another. After a while, I decided to take a bigger bite and went in for a second Master of Science Degree in Industrial Finance and Investment, a field I had no background knowledge in. It was challenging at the beginning, obviously because I was coming from a purely science background. But I drew strength from my grandfather’s allegory, by looking at it as a challenge that was stimulating my intellectual and mental faculties, which was eventually making my mind healthier and better. 

Regardless the challenges which affected my overall GPA, my final dissertation received encouraging commendations from the faculty. My supervisor was so impressed and we just submitted a paper from it. Because of my background in the extractives, I decided to look at the Dialectic Relationship Between Exchange Rate Volatility and Gold Price. Permit me to give you a sneak peak of our work.

Our interest was in the unpredictable nature of exchange rate volatility, and we also wanted to know whether the said exchange rate volatility had any relationship or influence on the price of gold on the world market. It was purely exploratory, so we analyzed high frequency time series data of 5057 days of the exchange rates of three currencies (GBP, EURO, AUD), and we bench marked to the price of gold in US Dollar from 2000 to 2020. We first subjected the data to multiple regression analyses at level. To determine the correlations between the variables we engaged the Augmented Dicky Fuller test, which served as a guide to establish integration factors for differencing.  

Subsequently, we tested four Generalized Auto-Regressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (GARCH (p, q)) models over three error distribution methods. We also developed novel indices which helped us to measure Degrees of Parsimony and Dominance Preference Differences.  We used these two new indices to choose t-GARCH (1,1) as the best model for our data set.  We further used Threshold GARCH (1,1) to capture the inherent positive and negative shocks in the volatility of exchange rate and the price of gold. We also used correlograms of the squared residuals, as well as histogram normality tests and ARCH LM effect for our model diagnostic tests. After doing all these, we were able to eventually forecast the data for the last 5 years successfully i.e., from 2015 to 2020.  

In the final analysis, our results suggest dialectically that, the price of gold today as we have it on the market, depends on the previous price of the commodity, and also depends significantly on the variability or volatility of the selected exchange rates. Most interestingly however, our findings also suggest that the price of gold depends significantly on the previous exchange rate of especially the EURO. We noticed surreptitiously that a positive shock has a 6% effect on the volatility of our variables than a negative shock. We think traders in forex, especially in gold should particularly consider the exchange rate of the EURO for futures purchases of the yellow metal.  

From the study, we predict the price of gold to remain volatile but between $1,204 and $1,993.70 till January 2022.  This prediction has seen some truth and correlations till now, making our model more robust than we had imagined it to be even in the advent of Covid-19.

But did you realize you just read my abstract from my paper at Press at the Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier? 

Looking into an angle

Come along and 'look into this angle' with me. In the far away future, our great grand children would make inventions and discoveries that will make us look unintelligent, though they would have built on the little we have done so far. 

They will build floating mansions and estates on the sea (I don't hear Amen, but townships will spring up on the sea). 

They will use easier and smarter ways to harness the energy from the sun. They will use better communication technologies and simple and superior practical medical solutions. They will live longer. 

In fact, if you should be resurrected to see what they have done, you will wonder why no one thought of it today. Why? It is because we are busy fighting and killing each other instead of collaborating at every level no matter what. Politics and religion dividing us here and there, so we can't get together and build the proverbial Tower of Babel. Though the Almighty Creater Himself has put that infinite power to create and procreate in us, and made sure that everything was good before moving to the next level, until he said it is finished. 

So, therefore, l believe that there is nothing we cannot do if we come together. #AbsolutelyNothing. All we need to do is to imagine it first. And start working on it by coming together: by #collaboration. Look, let me tell you this... We can create a new planet. We can create a new sun. And when l say we, l mean humankind. You and me, and everyone we know of or have heard of. 

But I am not the one saying we can create even a New Planet or Sun or what have you. Genesis 11:6 KJV has it all. "And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now #nothing will be restrained from them, which they have #imagined to do."

We can do more. The potential is in you. What are you imagining for yourself and with whom are you collaborating? Remember, even God collaborated with the those around him by saying in Genesis 1:26 KJV

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth". 

#eforaymusings®™

 29th December, 2020.