Project description
Blockchain solution for corporate responsibility in mineral sourcing
Minerals like gold, tin, tantalum, tungsten and copper are essential components in most electronic devices produced by today’s tech giants. However, as these valuable ores are extracted from conflict-torn countries, the companies involved face crucial ethical and legal risks. The EU-funded Minespider project presents the first fully integrated, Blockchain solution offering the conflict mineral sector the means to source responsibly and ensuring no breaches of human rights in at-risk origin countries. The solution relies on an innovative open, free, decentralised Blockchain protocol and uses a decentralised application to allow companies to create and sell certification data. Minespider allows the sector’s stakeholders to capitalise on their ethical activity.
Objective
Minespider is the first fully integrated, blockchain solution which offers the conflict mineral sector the means to
source responsibly, ensuring no breaches of human rights in at-risk origin countries. Minerals like gold, tin,
tantalum, tungsten or copper are essential components in most electronic devices today, and tech giants like
Microsoft, Apple or Nokia rely on them to develop their products. The usage of these valuable ores, however,
poses crucial ethical and legal risks for all companies involved, since many of them are extracted from conflict-
torn countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, further funding violence.
Minespider answers to companies’ CSR concerns and upcoming legislation, by transforming today’s due
diligence on mineral sourcing from a costly service, into a commodity, allowing mines, processors, transporters
and other stakeholders to capitalize on their ethical activity. Minespider was developed based on an innovative
opened, free, decentralized blockchain protocol and uses a DApp to allow companies to create and sell
certification data. This way, Minespider incentivises all stakeholders in the sector to responsible sourcing
straight from extraction and following up along the entire chain.
The team has extensive experience in the domain area and aims to scale the business to €50M to serve 2.000
active users by 2024, covering mineral supply chains worldwide.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringmanufacturing engineering
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistrytransition metals
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencescomputer securitycryptography
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringtextiles
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistrypost-transition metals
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
6300 Zug
Switzerland
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.