Russian company Nornickel recently announced that it has joined IBM’s Responsible Sourcing Blockchain Network (RSBN). According to its own information, the company, which is listed on the Nasdaq, contributes around 1.5 percent to Russia’s gross domestic product.
On January 14, 2021, Norilsk Nickel, or Nornickel for short, announced by means of a press release that the company would join the RSBN blockchain
The world’s largest producer of palladium further stated that it would use the RSBN blockchain to share mineral production data with other members. Originally, the blockchain was founded to improve the automotive, electronics, and aerospace industries. Nornickel is now the first mining company to join the blockchain . This would make the supply chain record from the mine to the market more transparent:
As one of the largest industrial groups worldwide and producer of the minerals that are essential for the transition to a carbon-free world, Nornickel is aware of its responsibility for the production of the metals supply chains in a sustainable and highly transparent manner .
Declared the Vice President Sales and Distribution at Nornickel, Anton Berlin
The blockchain would track the flow of goods almost in real time and replace „cumbersome paperwork“. After the company had developed its own strategy for recording the supply chain, it joined the RSBN. The RSBN platform is based on blockchain technology from International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). This in turn is based on the Hyperledger – a project of open source blockchains and related tools from the Linux Foundation’s Fabric. By joining the RSBN blockchain, Nornickel’s supply chains are now audited once a year by RCS Global. Manish Chawla, Global Managing Director, Chemistry, Petroleum and Industrial Products at IBM said he was confident that the two companies would work together:
Norilsk Nickel is an important addition to the Responsible Sourcing Blockchain Network, and we look forward to your contributions to ensure responsible sourcing and the Group’s sustainability goals, which have a direct impact on the successful and responsible development of entire industries.
The RSBN’s blockchain is growing steadily. In 2019, Glencore PLC, one of the largest cobalt producers ever entered the blockchain and thus set a milestone for the network.