A partnership between mining traceability platform Minespider and artisanal gold mining cooperative organisation Society Artisanal, to improve artisanally mined gold traceability and help prove provenance and sustainable production of the mineral, has been launched.

Society Artisanal – an organisation that aims to export conflict-free artisanal gold from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), partnered with Minespider – a technology company offering a blockchain-based traceability platform and Digital Product Passports, to implement traceability and prove provenance and sustainable production of gold.

Minespider’s blockchain-based platform and Digital Product Passports help to collect and communicate provenance data and other critical information about the gold in a transparent and secure way.

Society Artisanal will use the platform and Digital Product Passport to track gold from the mine to its smelting facility with further plans to scale traceability beyond the refineries.

The first blockchain-traced shipment was exported in June.

Minespider developed Digital Product Passports, which are digital IDs of material that easily communicate key data across the supply chain.

Society Artisanal produces clean and conflict-free gold, of trusted provenance from mine-to-market, by partnering with DRC-based artisanal mining cooperatives.

Society Artisanal is developing professional mine management practices, improving mineral extraction methods and ensuring that all safety and health, environmental and sustainability norms are met in line with international regulation standards. These regulatory standards include the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Annex II Due Diligence Guidance, and in particular, guidelines of US and European Union (EU) law, Dodd-Frank Act and the EU Conflict Minerals Regulation.

The gold is only sourced from Society Artisanal-led mine sites with supervision by third-party due diligence organisations, and is then smelted into branded ingot bars, stamped with a unique number and mine site identification and prepared for export to L’Orfebre gold refinery in Europe.

"Every mineral should have a passport, and gold is no exception,” states Minespider founder and CEO Nathan Williams.

He notes that because the DRC has been perceived as a conflict region for a long time, many companies avoid sourcing minerals from the region.

“However, the situation is evolving thanks to organisations like Society Artisanal that drive sustainable mining practices in the region, together with local miners, and ensure that gold is conflict-free and produced in accordance with all international standards, including conflict-free regulations and the EU Critical Minerals Act,” notes Williams.

“Our recent successful conflict-free, artisanal gold export from DRC exemplifies our unwavering dedication to ethical mining practices which ensures the longevity of our mineral supply chains,” says Society Artisanal CEO Jason Clarke.