The blockchain mining and mineral data start up Open Mineral has plans to bring together the biggest companies of the mining industry with financial institutions with a blockchain system for minerals trading and logistics.
The start up was founded by a group of traders from commodity house Glencore, which has an annual revenue of over $200 billion in the metals and mining industry. Open Mineral allows mining companies and smelters to cut out the middlemen using blockchain technology.
It is a web-based metal concentrates exchange that was formed last year out of Switzerland. Recently they began a partnership with ConsenSys to create “Minerac,” with the goal of maximizing efficiency in mineral trading and supply chains – from mining to shipping, surveying, warehousing and financing.
“Logistics are complex, financing is difficult to acquire and the entire process is very paper heavy. Thus, the industry is primed for blockchain disruption to simplify the trading process, (and) increase efficiency and profitability.” said Open Mineral Chief Executive Boris Eykher.
The primary use of blockchain here will be tokenization of minerals themselves and smart contracts. Minerac will allow stakeholders to securely exchange critical trade documents, such as bills of lading and letters of credit.
Following in Successful Footsteps
ConsenSys is a general blockchain technology company that primarily works with the Ethereum network. Their focus is on facilitating the empowerment of individuals and start ups with the decentralized governance available through Ethereum. ConsenSys has already set up consortiums for the oil industry, which will provide good incite to creating a platform to the similar mineral mining industry.
Several other industries are taking advantage of these possibilities, as well as integrating new supply chain related technologies for product identification, such as RFID tags.
Walmart has tapped into this to create a more direct and informative transition from farms to the shelves. The UK’s Food Safety division recently completed a successful pilot of a similar farm to consumer, blockchain based tracking system. The UN’s World Food Program has used blockchain as well. Other companies are using the technology to combat counterfeit products. This is especially useful in fashion industry and the pharmaceutical industry.
Open mineral describes deploying sealed bags of minerals with a stamped and tamper-proof identification model that will allow them to be meticulously traced, ensuring that they are coming from compliant and conflict-free regions.
