While digital solutions help curb illegal mining, it remains a major concern.
Technology can now track a diamond from the mine to the consumer's finger; it can improve access control in mining operations several kilometres underground; and it encourages the anonymous reporting 0f illegal activities. The SA mining industry is going to great lengths to improve the environmental credentials of its sector along with making it more ethical and more socially responsible. A big part of this sustainability drive lies in rooting out illegal artisanal mining activities, which are causing significant environmental pollution and degradation.
The diamond industry is a leader in bringing transparency into its value chain. Since 2003, all rough diamonds need to be certified, according to the Kimberley Process against ’conflict' diamonds (those mined in areas of armed conflict and illegally traded to finance it). De Beers took this accountability further by introducing a blockchain-based diamond-tracking solution called Tracr in 2018. The group's research reveals that the demand for responsible and ethical production is growing, especially among Millennial and Gen X consumers who crave 'transparency, authenticity and purpose'. At the same time, these younger generations are also more open to lab-grown diamonds, which have a smaller environmental footprint but are obviously not as rare or valuable as mined diamonds.
Certification and digital tracking from mine to retail are two ways of preventing ecological damage as in Angola and Sierra Leone, where irresponsible diamond mining has financed armed conflict and led to soil erosion, deforestation, river pollution and abandoned mining pits.
David Johnson, head of strategic communications at the De Beers Group, explains how digital tracking works. ‘Tracr brings together a number of key technologies - blockchain, artificial intelligence, internet of things and state-of-the-art privacy and security technology - to establish the first platform to digitally track a diamond’s journey end-to-end through the diamond pipeline in an immutable way.
