The world’s largest diamond mining firm, Russia’s Alrosa, has joined the pilot of fellow industry giant De Beers’ diamond supply chain blockchain platform “Tracr,” mining industry news outlet Mining Weekly reports Oct. 29.
Alrosa is reported to be the world’s largest producer of raw diamonds in carat terms; together with De Beers, the two firms produce around half of the world’s supply. In Q3 2018, the firm’s rough diamond sales rose 12 percent year-on-year to $949 million in value, even as sales in carats declined.
Tracr, whose pilot was first announced in January, aims to improve transparency and consumer trust across the diamond value chain from mine to retail.
The solution works by creating a digital certificate for each diamond that records key attributes and transactions. The data is stored immutably on the blockchain, allowing buyers to verify that diamonds they purchase are natural and conflict-free.
The latter term refers to an industry-specific concern in regard to “conflict diamonds,” also known as “blood diamonds” — uncut diamonds that have been mined in a war-zone and traded to illicitly fund combat.
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