The implementation will start with Paltarumi SAC, a Peruvian gold processing plant, dedicated to the collection and processing of gold from government-permitted artisanal and small-scale mining.
Paltarumi said it will co-develop additional analytical tools that aim to reduce the barriers to traceability for other ASGM operations and will implement Minespider’s blockchain traceability platform at every point in Paltarumi’s supply chain. Paltarumi sources gold ore from government-permitted ASGM operations, and part of the cooperation will be targeted at introducing responsible sourcing standards to the mining operations.
Related: State of the sector: Worker health, safety and equality in ASM
Minespider users create blockchain-secured digital IDs called digital Product Passports to track their material shipments downstream. These passports, Minespider said, contain information such as provenance data, due diligence documents and carbon emissions data, and are a way of differentiating and adding value to commodities.
“The cooperation with Integra will be the harbinger of new standards across the region,” Minespider CEO, Nathan Williams said in a media release. “With numerous assets in the portfolio and a dedicated leadership who understands the increasing importance of responsible sourcing, this has the potential to transform the sector in a part of the world that has a long history in mining and a strong desire to protect its rich natural heritage.”
This project is the first part of Integra’s wider strategy to provide access to transformative solutions that promote the production of responsibly-mined ore for gold operations across Latin America, the company said.
“Artisanal miners and the jewelry industry represent two extremes of the precious metals value chain. They depend on each other but don’t know one another,” said Integra CEO Alvaro Baltodano. “To help the artisanal mining sector transform, we need to educate the public and people in the industry to
explain what is at stake and how we can support their formalization.”
