China Minmetals, Zijin, BHP complete copper concentrate trade on MineHub platform

MineHub is an open, enterprise-grade platform for digital trade, with the aim of bringing efficiency, transparency and responsibility to supply chains. It connects the many parties involved in a physical commodity transaction in a digitally integrated workflow, operating on the basis of shared authentic and validated information secured by a global blockchain network.

“We feel a real momentum building up in the copper market around our platform and the assay exchange and ESG applications,” MineHub CEO Arnoud Star said in a media release. “Working with the teams at Zijin Mining, China Minmetals and BHP is another high-profile opportunity accelerating the innovation, development and adoption of our solutions, and therefore the value of the MineHub platform for the global concentrates market.”

The digital trade by China Minmetals et al. is the first transaction of its kind, in which:

- A copper concentrate shipment was purchased by China Minmetals from BHP, then on-sold to Zijin Mining for smelting, with both the purchase and the sale transactions completed on the same platform. It also marks the first transaction involving a smelter for their procurement;

-MineHub’s blockchain-based platform was used for a transaction between two Chinese companies, for a cargo originating from a global mining company; and
- The companies shared greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions estimates and data, including estimates of the Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions associated with the production of the cargo, down the chain to the end buyer Zijin Mining.

The parties also used MineHub’s assay exchange application in the transaction settlement. As this innovation matures and the adoption of the blockchain platform continues to increase in the copper market, it has the potential to become the de facto standard for post-trade settlements in the industry, MineHub said.