TRANSPARENCY: Mintrax blockchain platform for mineral traceability launched

TORONTO – Cobalt Blockchain (COBC) and DLT Labs have finalized their joint venture agreement to commercialize Mintrax, a fully-functional blockchain platform providing secure and transparent methods for tracking the provenance of metals and minerals through the entire mining supply chain from source to end-user. Mintrax is the first enterprise-grade blockchain platform built from the ground up to ensure compliance with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development due diligence framework for the provenance of ethically sourced minerals. The transactional flow of Mintrax is based on COBC's operational experience trading certified conflict free metals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and work with due diligence program design firm BetterChain, as well as DLT's deep-bench supply chain and logistics experience with IBM's Hyperledger Fabric blockchain. Patrick Mutwale, managing director at DLT Labs, is project lead for the Mintrax development initiative. This successful product launch builds on a wide range of expert contributions, including DLT's international blockchain logistics asset tracking practice and COBC's mineral operations, with oversight from Dr. Samuel Peralta and Lance Hooper of COBC, and the work of Africa-based entrepreneur Imran Patel. COBC intends to provide conflict-free cobalt to address burgeoning demand for advanced batteries in smartphones and electric vehicles and is gearing up to begin cobalt trading early in the fourth quarter of 2018. COBC holds export trading licenses for cobalt, copper, tin, tantalum, and tungsten from the DRC. While the new platform is being implemented first for cobalt, it is designed for companies trading in all base and precious minerals, diamonds and gold. Please visit www.COBC.co.