BHP and China Baowu have completed their first iron ore trade on MineHub Technologies’ blockchain-based platform, according to the Vancouver-based digital supply chain company.

This is the first of a series of transactions with various industry partners, guiding the next evolution of functionality on the MineHub platform that will ultimately provide commodity supply chains with a fully digital end-to-end fulfilment process, MineHub said. “It also reflects MineHub’s development approach – hands-on collaboration and continuous validation with industry – to ensure that the platform delivers on the value and user experience expectations.”

The MineHub platform is built on the IBM Blockchain platform using the open-source Hyperledger Fabric standards. MineHub allows its customers to benefit from several innovations, according to the company, with the parties involved in selling, buying, delivering and paying for a cargo of minerals now able to collaborate securely in real-time, “working in an integrated cross-company workflow, sharing electronic information rather than couriering or emailing paper documents that are subject to interception, fraud and cyber threats”, MineHub said.

Arnoud Star Busmann, CEO of MineHub, said working with the world’s biggest miner and one of the world’s largest steel producers on “designing the digital future of critical supply chains” like iron ore is incredibly exciting.

“This series of transactions, each focusing on different aspects of the post-trade process, will allow MineHub to incrementally expand the platform’s functionality and scalability into the iron ore and other mineral commodity markets, incorporating real-life user experience,” he added.

MineHub is also developing and validating digital solutions in complementary settings and in collaboration with other industry partners, it said, adding that work was underway, for instance, in base metals concentrates, structured finance and emissions tracking.

Star Busmann continued: “We will incorporate these learnings into the next MineHub release, planned for Q4 (December quarter) 2020, which will start to provide a solution to the increasingly urgent need for industry-wide digitalisation, by boosting both safety, transparency and resilience of critical supply chains. Especially as current pandemic events and fraud cases in the commodity trading industry are causing a step change in the adoption of digital solutions.”

MineHub says its blockchain-based platform helps the parties in a mineral transaction to virtually integrate their trade operations processes like contracting, logistics, specifications and financing services. This streamlines communication channels and also provides the transaction participants with security and certainty via a reliable, real-time single source of truth.

“The underlying blockchain technology ensures that each party can control the privacy, integrity and geographical residence of their data, whilst allowing trading and financing partners to use or verify the integrity of shared information,” MineHub says.