Three Ways that Blockchain will Transform Mining
The mining sector is on the cusp of the biggest production surge in history, driven by the need for metals for shifting the global economy to electric power. According to the World Bank we will need as much copper in the next 30 years as we have produced in the entire history of humanity.
In facing this challenge the mining sector has become an innovative adopter of blockchain technology in three main areas. The first of these is making transactions between producers and customers more efficient. This is happening now and is being used in bulk materials like iron ore. The second is in the coordination of inputs and information to mining operations. This is also improving business productivity but has the potential to make mining a business of networks and consortia, much like the aerospace industry. Lastly, blockchain has the great potential to allow customers to see what they are buying and how it was produced. This has potential for branding some metal products as ‘green’ or ‘fair trade’.