Minexx has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Solidaridad, the leading global organisation focused on creating fair and sustainable supply chains.
Minexx deploys its traceability platform to secure the mineral supply chain, bringing benefits to miners, smelters, traders, tech companies and governments. Solidaridad will contribute to the content development of the platform, so it can better serve monitoring purposes in the supply chain.
Solidaridad is an international civil society organization with over 50 years of experience in developing solutions to make communities more resilient. It currently works in over 40 countries, on five continents, working throughout supply chains to make them more sustainable.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) covers areas of development of the concept of traceability, how to link it to community development and collaborating on joint projects in the future, focused on Africa.
Marcus Scaramanga, CEO and co-founder of Minexx, said: “This partnership is really important to Minexx. Solidaridad brings such a wealth of experience and scale. Its significant geographical reach, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, is also crucial as we look to expand the Minexx proposition and platform. There is also an alignment of mission about making mineral supply chains work better, smarter and fairer.”
Solidaridad has been implementing its Gold Program for 15 years, and in recent years has seen increasing attention to supply chain transparency with all stakeholders in the industry.
Especially with minerals like gold, it is extremely important to combine transparency with traceability, as there are no physical properties to distinguish one type of gold from the other. Just melt the gold, put another stamp on it and the origin of the gold is changed. This is one of the reasons that gold has a dubious reputation in the international market and is connected with money laundering and criminality.
Specifically artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is linked to these practices, and it hinders our ambitions to integrate ASM gold into formal supply chains. The ambition of both Solidaridad and Minexx is to develop tools and programs that are benefiting the ASM miners and not just focus on the interests of the buyers.
Solidaridad is committed to working with all stakeholders to promote inclusive and sustainable gold supply chains.
Earlier this year Minexx, in a world first, exported minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo processing US$250k of digital, blockchain certified payments. The platform also enables trade and compliance, directly impacting 10 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Isaac Gyamfi, Regional Director of Solidaridad West Africa said: “ Solidaridad has in the past years been deploying digital technology in its work with farmers globally. This partnership with Minexx has given us the opportunity to deploy technology to ensure responsible mineral supply chains in Africa. ”
The companies will announce their first joint projects in the next few months.
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About Minexx
Minexx is securing the mineral supply chain from earth to tech – with traceability, transparency and trust. Its blockchain platform – with its global application – transforms and re-designs the value chain bringing benefits to miners, smelters, traders, tech companies and governments while directly impacting 10 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. It is headquartered in London, UK, with operations in Burkina Faso, Rwanda and DRC and with an office in Cape Town, South Africa.
About Solidaridad
Solidaridad is an international civil society organisation with more than 50 years of global experience that works through eight regional centres to make sustainability the norm and ensure that farmers, miners and workers earn a decent income, shape their own future, and produce in balance with nature. We bring together supply chain actors and engage them in finding innovative solutions to improve communities, production, trade and processing towards a sustainable and inclusive economy that maximizes the benefits for all.
