- PARTNERSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT | WEDNESDAY 18TH NOVEMBER, 2020

LuNa Smelter partners with Minespider, Google, and the Rwanda Mines, Petroleum, and Gas Board to pilot the OreSource blockchain tool in Rwanda. 

Kigali, November 18th, 2020 - Minespider, a blockchain protocol for responsible mineral tracking and LuNa Smelter, a responsible tin producer in Kigali, Rwanda, have partnered to implement Minespider’s OreSource tool starting this month. The tool is being developed under the grant awarded to Minespider by EIT Raw Materials earlier this year.
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OreSource is a blockchain-based due diligence tool for mines and smelters, helping them to capture key information that European Union importers require to comply with the new EU Conflict Mineral Regulation coming into force in January 2021. Smelters upload the data required into a digital blockchain certificate. By affixing a simple QR code to a mineral shipment, or to an invoice, the recipients of the materials receive all the data they need to ensure their compliance with the EU regulation, secured on Minespider’s public blockchain protocol.
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LuNa is the first Responsible Minerals Assurance Process (RMAP) conformant tin smelter on the African continent, producing high-quality tin ingots and other minerals recovered from the refining process, such as tantalum concentrate. The ore is partially procured from LuNa’s own operational sites, as well as third-parties who are compliant with LuNa’s strict internal environmental and social standards. 
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LuNa Smelter will pilot OreSource in Rwanda, together with the support and guidance of the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) and Rwandan Mines, Petroleum, and Gas Board (RMB). “The industry is still unsure about how to comply with the EU Conflict Minerals Regulation. OreSource will give us a tool to provide the information that is required, and help European importers collect the required data,” said Olena Wiaderna, Director of Sustainability and Supply Chain Due Diligence at LuNa Smelter.  
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RMB sees the project as an important step in redesigning the mining industry, and transforming mining resources into key drivers of the country’s growth. The board has already deployed different due diligence measures, including the development of tag managers at mining sites to seal and track the minerals extracted. This maintains the transparency of the supply chains and reduces the risk of potential illegal trade in minerals. RMB believes that this digital identification of minerals may offer upstream companies more direct compensation in exchange for demonstrating responsible mining practices, while optimizing the actual cost. “This comes as a confirmation to what we have always known: Rwanda is a conflict-free source of minerals, and by LuNa Smelter pioneering blockchain in minerals tracking in Rwanda, we’re taking another big step forward for the Rwandan mining sector,” said Francis Gatare, the CEO of Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board (RMB). 
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Google will provide input and offer industry expertise to ensure OreSource is aligned with importer and manufacturer requirements. Minespider and Google have previously implemented a traceability project, tracking tin from the mine to the end user, along with other consortium members such as Volkswagen, and the Peruvian mining company Minsur. The cooperation with LuNa Smelter and Minespider will further Google’s engagement in responsible sourcing practices for 3TGs in the Great Lakes region. 
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Nathan Williams, Minespider’s CEO, points out: “Historically, companies like LuNa Smelter, who pioneer responsible sourcing in exceptionally challenging environments, have been at a disadvantage. Their due diligence incurs costs that are not reflected in the world market’s metal prices. OreSource gives such companies the opportunity to stand out, and to provide their customers due diligence information as an additional service.”

🇪🇺 This activity was funded by the Start-up & SME Booster Programme from the EIT RawMaterials, funded by the EIT, a body of the European Union supported under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.

- FUNDING ANNOUNCEMENT | TUESDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER, 2020

Minespider awarded EIT Raw Materials Grant to develop a responsible minerals compliance tool.

Berlin, September 15, 2020 - Minespider, a blockchain protocol for responsible mineral tracking, has been awarded a grant of over €180,000 from EIT Raw Materials Booster Programme. The programme aims to support startups and SMEs in creating innovative products and services that will positively impact the raw materials sector.
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With this grant, Minespider will develop OreSource, a due diligence product that helps mines and smelters capture key information that importers in the European Union need in order to comply with EU Conflict Mineral Regulation. The regulation, which comes into force in January 2021, requires that EU importers of 3TG (tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold) perform due diligence to determine whether their material comes from a conflict affected or high-risk area (CAHRA). 
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Founder and CEO, Nathan Williams, stated; “European importers need to have better access to data to operate in this new regulatory environment. They require certain data to be included with the materials they purchase.”
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The OreSource product extends the capabilities of Minespider’s open, public blockchain protocol, which allows companies to track their raw material shipments, demonstrating where the materials come from and the conditions under which they were produced. This blockchain creates digital certificates that separate data into three different layers, depending on whether the data should be publicly visible, transparent between members of the same supply chain, or private between a company and their customer. This allows their clients, including Volkswagen and Google, to share sensitive transparency information with their customers and other supply chain participants securely.
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The OreSource app allows mines and smelters to provide information to distinguish their products from the rest of the market. Mines and smelters who use the app upload key data such as bills of lading, invoices, company policies, and third-party certifications, which are assembled into a digital certificate and linked along the supply chain. By affixing a simple QR code to a mineral shipment, or on an invoice, the recipients of the materials have all the data they need to ensure their compliance with the EU regulation, secured on Minespider’s public blockchain protocol.
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“Responsible producers are often at a disadvantage in the global market. OreSource is a solid first step toward making responsibly sourced material the norm instead of the exception,” says Williams.
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Companies importing material into Europe benefit from this information, as they have everything they need to conduct due diligence. This means they can view transport routes, analyze production site responsibility, and demonstrate a chain of custody for their raw materials. OreSource will also offer analytical tools that allow material importers to identify potential conflict areas and other red flags. This will enable them to ask further questions when needed and ensure all of their imports have been sourced responsibly.
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Williams stated; “The EU and other government agencies are spearheading a new global era of sustainable sourcing. OreSource will support these efforts by ensuring that key data from mineral producers is captured in a transparent manner, and communicated along the supply chain. We are moving away from a world of anonymous commodities, to one of trusted products.”

🇪🇺 This activity was funded by the Start-up & SME Booster Programme from the EIT RawMaterials, funded by the EIT, a body of the European Union supported under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.

- FUNDING ANNOUNCEMENT | THURSDAY 16TH APRIL, 2020

Minespider raises €2.8 million to continue developing their open blockchain protocol for supply chain tracking.

Berlin, April 16, 2020 - Minespider, a blockchain protocol for responsible raw material tracking, has raised a total of €2.8 million from combined sources, including the EU Commission’s H2020’s SME Instrument Phase 2.

Founder and CEO, Nathan Williams, stated; “This is an immense step forward for Minespider and our vision of a future where supply chains are transparent and sustainable.”

Minespider is an open blockchain protocol founded in 2018. As a team of ten, Minespider is based in Berlin, with operations in both Switzerland and Brazil. Their platform allows companies to create digital passports for their raw materials that keep track of where the materials come from and the conditions under which they were produced. The passports contain data that allows companies to verify that the materials they receive were produced in environmentally and socially sustainable ways.

Minespider passports separate data into three different layers, depending on whether the data should be publicly visible, visible to members of the same supply chain, or private between a company and their customer. This allows companies to share sensitive transparency information with their customers and others further down the supply chain securely. Minespider makes it possible to do this without a single trusted company running the system, using an advanced encryption system. This means that companies using Minespider retain total control over their own data.

Since its founding, Minespider has launched several traceability projects with industry players. In 2018, Minespider partnered with Google to create a multi-stakeholder end-to-end mineral traceability consortium for the tin supply chain. The project formally commenced in 2019, with the addition of Cisco, SGS, Volkswagen, and Peruvian mining company Minsur, and has successfully tracked tin end-to-end and is now planning to incorporate new members.

In spring 2019, Minespider announced a joint project with Volkswagen to track their lead battery supply chain. This ongoing circular economy project involves two-thirds of the company’s global lead supply. Volkswagen intends this as a first step to employ blockchain technology for additional raw materials and supply chains.

“It has been an amazing experience to bring together so many industry leaders to work together on traceability,” Williams stated, “Now, with the backing of the European Commission and our investors we can scale the platform, bringing on many more participants who believe in the vision of transparent and responsible products.”

Part of funding came from the Horizon 2020 programme, where the European Commission selects potentially disruptive businesses to invest in and support as part of the SME Instrument. Minespider was chosen as a highly innovative SME and awarded ‘Very Good to Excellent (4.5 – 5)’ for all three key assessment criteria.

Williams highlighted; “This funding shows how ready the EU Commission is to invest in these emerging and future technologies.”

[🇪🇺This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 946437.]

- PARTNERSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT | TUESDAY 23RD APRIL, 2019

Minespider to track Volkswagen’s global lead supply chain.  

- Partnership between blockchain company Minespider and Volkswagen Group.
- Pilot program will focus on improving the transparency of Volkswagen’s lead supply chain using blockchain technology.
- Marco Philippi, Head of Strategy for Volkswagen Group Procurement, stated: “Sustainability in the supply chain is one of our top priorities. We see blockchain technology as part of the solution to ensure compliance with environmental and social standards along the entire supply chain.”
- Minespider founder, Nathan Williams, explains: “Ultimately, we would like to see an industry-wide transformation, a public protocol that any responsible supplier can join.”

Berlin, April 23, 2019 - Supply chain transparency continues to be a highly anticipated application of blockchain technology. Beginning in April, Minespider will partner with Volkswagen in an initial pilot focusing on their lead supply, working with suppliers and sub-suppliers who account for more than two-thirds of the Group’s total lead starter battery requirements. Volkswagen’s ultimate aim is to ensure that all of their raw materials are sourced in a socially and environmentally sound manner.
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In the automotive sector, like in many other industries, supply chain transparency is a major issue, and to ensure sustainable mobility, responsible procurement is essential. Minespider and Volkswagen are working together to make procurement both more transparent and secure. Blockchain allows participants to trace the supply chain from the point of origin to the factory. Marco Philippi, Head of Strategy for Volkswagen Group Procurement, stated: “Sustainability in the supply chain is one of our top priorities. We see blockchain technology as part of the solution to ensure compliance with environmental and social standards along the entire supply chain.”
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Minespider is an open source, public blockchain protocol that offers stakeholders the opportunity to track the origin of their raw materials and present a complete chain of custody from certified mine to end manufacturer. Minespider was originally founded to address increasing global conflict mineral legislation, including the Dodd-Frank Act Section 1502 and the EU’s Conflict Minerals Regulation, which require companies to know who is supplying their gold, tin, tantalum, and tungsten. With industry interest turning toward increased transparency, the Minespider team are also launching initiatives into other key materials.
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The public protocol approach is a departure from previous supply chain tracking initiatives that used private, permissioned blockchains. This avoids the risk of a large player with a private blockchain creating a monopoly on the global mineral supply chain. By using a token-driven design, they provide the mechanism for decentralizing protocol governance.  Minespider’s founder, Nathan Williams, explains: “Ultimately, we would like to see an industry-wide transformation, a public protocol that any responsible supplier can join.”
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Minespider’s protocol uses nested encryption to ensure a company’s data remains private on a public blockchain. Digital “Certificates” are created at certified mineral sources, such as mines or recyclers, which are then encrypted with the company’s public key and posted in a publicly accessible database. As mineral shipments are sold, responsibility data of the new owner is added to the certificate which is re-encrypted with the public key of the new owner, creating a layered encryption like a “Russian doll.”  This ensures that only the owner is able to access the supply chain data, even though it is in a verifiable, immutable public data store, enabling supply chain transparency without sacrificing data security.