Top mining, metal companies test blockchain to track cobalt in electric vehicles

In recent years, establishing responsible cobalt sourcing practices has become the focus of human rights organizations, environmental researchers and other organizations.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), global cobalt purchases exceed 70%, and experts have focused on heavy metals. human rights The risks of many mining operations.At the same time, insufficient supervision Deep sea mining The extraction of cobalt and nickel has aroused the deep concern of experts on the destructive effects of its environment.

The world’s leading miners Glencore, CMOC and Eurasian Resources Group and battery material supplier Umicore jointly released a new announcement that corporate participants are seeking blockchain technology to at least partially solve these problems.

The four companies will pilot a blockchain solution called Resources under actual operating conditions: tracking minerals from cobalt production facilities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to downstream electric vehicle production sites. The trial will continue until the end of this year, and the final solution will be launched in 2022. Despite the huge potential of blockchain to increase transparency and monitoring, Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg said:

“Traceability by itself is not enough. It must be part of the entire industry’s efforts to improve the entire cobalt supply chain. This must first begin through responsible procurement compliance, such as through RMI [Responsible Minerals Initiative]; Widely used collective use of ESG [Environmental, Social, and Governance] standard […]; Provide support to the artisanal and small-scale mining industry in the Democratic Republic of Congo through the initiative of multiple stakeholders such as the Fair Cobalt Alliance. “

RelSource is a solution originally launched by three miners in 2019. Umicore later joined the solution with an unknown electric car manufacturer. The system uses zero-knowledge proof together with the blockchain and was developed by the blockchain studio Kryha. Kryha has been committed to the application of carbon footprint and metal tracking in the past and has cooperated with the World Economic Forum.

RelSource is also directly in touch with the Global Battery Alliance or the GBA Battery Passport project, because its three founders are all GBA members.

As previously reported, the leading car Volvo and other manufacturers with Mercedes Benz It also cooperated with a blockchain startup called Circular to try to use blockchain to improve the traceability of cobalt, with a focus on reducing carbon emissions.