VANCOUVER,
British Columbia and ARMONK,
N.Y., Jan. 16, 2019
/PRNewswire/ -- MineHub Technologies, Inc. ("MineHub")
and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a collaboration to use
blockchain technology to help improve operational efficiencies,
logistics and financing and reduce costs in the high-value mineral
concentrates supply chain -- from mine to end buyer.
Goldcorp Inc. (TSX: G), ING Bank (NYSE: ING), Kutcho Copper
Corp. (TSXV: KC), Ocean Partners USA Inc. and Wheaton Precious Metals Corp.
(TSX: WPM) are working with mining technology company MineHub to
build the new mining supply chain solution on top of the IBM
Blockchain Platform.
The $1.8 trillion* global mining
and metals market has traditionally suffered from inefficiencies
due to manual, paper-based processes and a lack of transparency
between supply chain participants. Blockchain technology helps
address this by providing a shared ledger to create a single, real
time view of transactions and data across the supply chain that can
be seen by all permissioned participants. Each of the participating
companies represent key areas of the supply chain from mining,
streaming, trade and finance.
"We are delighted to be working with some of the most forward
thinking and innovative companies from each area of the mining and
metals industry. By digitizing the supply chain, we can increase
the level of automation, reduce reliance on intermediaries and
increase the speed at which goods are transferred from miners to
end buyers. This creates the opportunity for transformative
efficiencies and cost reductions throughout all aspects of
operations," said Vince Sorace,
Founder and CEO of MineHub. "This is a significant advancement for
an industry looking to integrate and use data in ways not
previously possible."
The first use case will be built on the MineHub platform and
will manage concentrate from Goldcorp's Penasquito Mine in
Mexico throughout its path to
market. When ore is mined, the mining company will upload data,
including sustainability and ethical practices, allowing
independent verification from regulators to end users as required.
When materials are loaded for transport, the MineHub platform can
record each transaction and allow permissioned parties to view and
reconcile information throughout its journey. Smart contracts
for supply chain processes such as trade finance, streaming
and royalty contracts will be used by companies such as Wheaton
Precious Metals and other institutions who provide credit
facilities such as ING Bank in connection with the Penasquito
Mine.
Arnout van Heukelem, Global Head
of Metals and Mining at ING said, "As a global leader in banking in
the metals and mining sector, we feel many of the operational
challenges that our clients face. Blockchain has the potential to
reduce or even overcome these, as shown by our pioneering work in
energy with VAKT, in trade finance with Komgo and Voltron, and in
the soft commodity sector. I am excited to be working together with
MineHub and help our clients in metals and mining lower costs,
increase transparency and contribute to sustainable production and
trading."
The MineHub supply chain platform is built on the cloud-based
IBM Blockchain Platform, powered by the Linux Foundation's
Hyperledger Fabric. MineHub plans to expand the collaboration to
additional members across the mining industry to encourage
innovation and new applications using the technology.
"Blockchain technology can serve as the foundation for
transforming entire business processes in the mining industry while
creating greater transparency across the supply chain," said
Manish Chawla, general manager,
Global Industrial Products, IBM. "By bringing together stakeholders
at different points across the mining and minerals supply chain,
MineHub is building a platform that has the potential to bring new
levels of efficiency and trust to the mining industry."
MineHub and IBM plan to work together to collaborate on new ways
to scale and expand the platform, identify new use cases, and
incorporate innovative technologies into the platform in the
future.
About MineHub
MineHub (www.MineHub.com) is an innovative technology company
developing a new generation of cost saving applications for the
mining and metals industry. MineHub has established a consortium
of leading industry partners including Goldcorp Inc., Kutcho
Copper Corp., ING Bank, Ocean Partners USA Inc. and Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. to
build the MineHub platform which manages high value assets from
mine to end buyer across the mining and metals supply chain.
Built using Hyperledger Fabric in collaboration with IBM, the
MineHub platform will bring automation, cost savings, enable
greater security, transparency, auditability and efficiency among
participants.
About IBM Blockchain
IBM is recognized as the leading enterprise blockchain provider.
The company's research, technical and business experts have broken
barriers in transaction processing speeds, developed the most
advanced cryptography to secure transactions, and are contributing
millions of lines of open source code to advance blockchain for
businesses. IBM is the leader in open-source blockchain solutions
built for the enterprise. Since 2016, IBM has worked with hundreds
of clients across financial services, supply chain, government,
retail, digital rights management and healthcare to implement
blockchain applications, and operates a number of networks running
live and in production. The cloud-based IBM Blockchain Platform
delivers the end-to-end capabilities that clients need to quickly
activate and successfully develop, operate, govern and secure their
own business networks. IBM is an early member of Hyperledger, an
open source collaborative effort created to advance cross-industry
blockchain technologies. For more information about IBM Blockchain,
visit https://www.ibm.com/blockchain/ or follow us on Twitter
at @ibmblockchain.
Contact:
Hannah Slocum
IBM Communications
hslocum@us.ibm.com
Vince Sorace
MineHub
vsorace@minehub.com
* Marketline. Global Metals & Mining Industry Profile &
Value Chain Analysis. May 2018.
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SOURCE IBM