Minerals Traceability Using Blockchain Algorithm: Vanadium Bearing Minerals. For Redox Batteries and Gemstones as SemiPrecious Commodity

Abstract

The traceability of minerals is one of the most important requirements in the supply chain whereby a need for sustainability and ethical sourcing is required. This paper discusses the challenges associated with the traceability systems used for vanadium and gemstones in their respective supply chains in South Africa and Kenya. The objective of this study was to design a blockchain based platform that may be implemented in the vanadium and gemstone supply chains. Light on the inherent limitations of conventional approaches to traceability and how the use of blockchain improves mineral traceability will be shed. Suggestions on how to improve and ensure transparency in the supply chain by using the decentralized and immutable structure of blockchain will be discussed. Through implementation of the blockchain traceability systems the platform showed the benefits and transparency / accountability related impacts of blockchain technology applications on the supply chain of vanadium and gemstones. For the gemstone's traceability data from the supply chain, inserted into the block chain platform, were converted into a hash function value. That value was unique to the event as it occurred in the supply chain. This made the data tamper proof and could only be accessed by authorized personnel. Any subsequent changes made on the data will provide another hash function value. For the vanadium ore, the smart contract function was used in the traceability aspect supply chain. Once the XRF results were loaded into the algorithm and satisfied predefined conditions, the contract will read as "successful" ; thus produces the correct location of the ore in question (in this case, vanadium ore), the conditions are set with a 2% margin for error and thus will read as "Unsuccessful" if the percentages entered are greater than the 2% errorThe observed outcomes allude the benefits of using tailored blockchain traceability system to both gemstone and vanadium supply chains. The developed systems made use of unique functions such as hashing, smart contracts and blockchain nodes.