Apple, blockchain and ethical mining

On Friday Apple submitted an SEC filing entitled “Conflict Minerals Report“. It gives no pointers about its own blockchain activity, but the company participated in the Responsible Minerals Initiative blockchain group which in December published supply chain guidelines. Two of the important minerals where blockchain is already starting to be deployed are cobalt and tantalum which are both used in batteries. In the case of cobalt, last month IBM announced a blockchain initiative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with Ford, LG Chem, Huayou Cobalt and RCS Global. Huayou Cobalt is an approved smelter for Apple. Circulor is involved in tracking tantalum in Rwanda with the government and PRG Resources, also an Apple supplier.

The problem

In August Fortune published a report “Blood, Sweat, and Batteries” about cobalt production in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The accompanying video explores artisanal or small scale mining in the DRC which is home to two-thirds of the world’s Cobalt reserves. It’s a reminder of what the gold-rush must have been like, with holes manually dug in the ground, hazardous conditions, and children carrying heavy sacks. But even this was the sanitized view of mines that the journalists were allowed to visit.

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