IBM and MineHub Team to Improve Mining Supply Chain
Technology giant IBM Corp. (International Business Machines Corp.) has entered into a partnership with MineHub Technologies to create a Blockchain powered solution that will be focused on improving mining and metals industry’s supply chain management.
MineHub is a technology company that focuses on developing applications, including those based on Blockchain tech, for the mining and metals industry.
Targeting Inefficiencies
The new Blockchain based mining supply chain tool is going to be built on the IBM Blockchain Platform, which is cloud based and is powered by the Hyperledger Fabric developed by the Linux Foundation.
The mining and metals industry, which is estimated to be worth about $1.8 trillion, still uses dated methods such as paper trails and manual data processing to track the supply chain. The industry also has a massive lack of transparency between the different parties in the supply chain.
The new tool is being developed to ease out these and other inefficiencies across the industry. According to reports, this new Blockchain solution will also target improving financing and logistics in the industry, and help cut down on costs.
IBM’s press release states that the new platform will increase automation levels, reduce the industry’s reliance on middlemen and other intermediaries, and also increase the speed at which goods are transported along the supply chain.
This, according to IBM, will be done by creating a digitized shared ledger that will be accessible to all permissioned parties in the supply chain. This ledger will provide all participants with complete real-time views of all transactions as well as data that is flowing through the supply chain.
Industry Support
The creation of this Blockchain powered platform is being supported by major industry players, such as Goldcorp Inc., the gold production company, ING Bank, Kutcho Copper Corp., the mineral exploration company, Ocean Partners USA Inc., the global trading company, and Wheaton Precious Metals Corp., a precious metals streaming firm.
There companies are a part of the consortium created by MineHub.
First Use Case
According to reports, the first use case with be developed on MineHub’s platform, and will manage the supply chain of gold producer Goldcorp’s Mexican Penasquito Mine. The platform will track the concentrate from the mine all the way to the end market.
At the time the ore is mined, Goldcorp will upload all relevant data on to the platform. This will include information about ethical practices as well as sustainability.