Fair gold mining thanks to Blockchain technology? 💡

Hello dear readers,

Blockchain technology can lead to improvements in many industrial sectors. In the mineral industry, too, it can bring fairer working conditions in the future.

Today I would like to share a new article from BTC-Echo on this topic.

Here you can find the original article in German: https://www.btc-echo.de/faires-gold-dank-blockchain-kenianisches-tech-unternehmen-startet-bergbau-plattform/

Bildquelle Shutterstock und BTC-Echo

Kenyan tech company Sawa Minerals celebrates the launch of its eponymous mining platform this week. Blockchain technology is intended to ensure fair working conditions in the mineral industry. Meanwhile, representatives of problem-prone industries, such as coffee growers, are making similar attempts to use the technology in their supply chains.

The workers in the gold mines of West Africa groan under a heavy fate. The natural resources of their homeland are as sought after on the global markets as ever. However, the working conditions in the mine shafts are cruel. Child labor, starvation wages and other forms of modern slavery are commonplace.

This is what the start-up Sawa Minerals wants to change. As announced this week in a press release, the Kenyan tech company is celebrating the launch of its eponymous blockchain platform. In the future, this should secure the supply and value chains in the mineral industry.

By doing so, the start-up aims to ensure that shoppers of rare minerals, such as gold, have fair miners in the country. On the other hand, Sawa Minerals also wants to ensure that the strict, but rarely observed, regulations are taken seriously in African mining operations.

Kali Angwa, co-founder of the company, promotes the platform's capabilities at the official launch in Nairobi. His company seeks to create a global ecosystem for ethnic mining "that is free of child labor, where miners work in safe conditions and earn a living income."

Such a step is groundbreaking, as small-scale artisanal mining in particular is a major supplier to the "most important sectors of the global economy, such as construction, jewelery and electronics," according to Angwa.

Cobalt, gold, silver: the world market is ripping about rare metals

Worldwide, demand for rare metals is steadily rising. Because of smartphones on tablets, laptops and televisions are installed in almost every technical device mineral resources such as cobalt, gold or silver. The problem: The valuable materials mostly lie dormant deep in the ground and are often mined under inhumane conditions.

Supply chain certification schemes, such as the ITSCI International Supply Chain Security Initiative in the mineral industry, are set to change this, but are rejected by the industry as too expensive. Blockchain companies like Sawa Minerals want to remedy this situation in the future.

Concrete technical details on how the platform should check the supply chains between miners and buyers in the future left the company open at times. It can be assumed, however, that Sawa Minerals has sought inspiration in similar blockchain advances currently underway worldwide.

Threat industries rely on blockchain supply chains

In West African Rwanda, for example, the use of a blockchain platform for the mining of the metal tantalum is currently being discussed. The local blockchain start-up Circulor is currently working on a distributed ledger solution to reliably track the mineral's supply chains, according to local newspaper The New Times. Companies in the coffee, diamond or cocoa industries are also seeing similar, equally problem-prone industries taking similar paths and relying on blockchain technologies in their supply chains.

Original article: https://www.btc-echo.de/faires-gold-dank-blockchain-kenianisches-tech-unternehmen-startet-bergbau-plattform/

Greetings and hear you in my next article.

Michael Thomale - @michael.thomale