Minsur rolls out digital tracing to prove metal is conflict free
One of the world’s biggest tin producers is rolling out a digital tracking system for all of its output as the formal mining industry steps up efforts to distinguish itself from minerals produced illegally or unethically.
Minsur — controlled by the Brescia family, one of Peru’s wealthiest — plans to track about 29 000 metric tons of tin a year, including its production in Brazil. Eventually, the Minespider traceability system would also cover gold mined in Brazil, Minsur spokesman Gonzalo Quijandria said in an interview Monday.
The blockchain-based platform shows proof of origin to buyers of tin, one of the original conflict minerals given its extraction in places like the Congo. Much of the world’s tin also comes from informal mines in Southeast Asia. South American nations including Peru and Brazil are also grappling with new areas of illegal gold and copper mining.
“It’s not only an economic problem, it’s a security problem,” said Quijandria, head of corporate affairs and sustainability. “There’s a lot of criminal activity related to informal mining. For a country like Peru with a lot of informality in the economy, it is a really big issue.”
The initiative is billed as the largest industrial scale roll-out of traceability to date. But efforts to ensure compliance with environmental and labor standards are also becoming widespread in the cobalt industry, where transparency initiatives track supply chains from Congolese mines to electric vehicle production.
Tin, used as a solder in electronic circuits and in alloys as a protective coating, is also a key part of solar power infrastructure, with demand set to rise in the clean energy transition.
Article Enquiry
Email Article
Save Article
Feedback
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Rooted in the hearts of South Africans, combining technology and a quest for perfection to bring you a battery of peerless standing. Willard...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
