ETHICAL SUPPLY CHAIN FOR MINERAL ORES IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO USING BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY

T he Democratic Republic of Congo in short DRC which has been blessed with a flurry of minerals has been suffering from the paradoxical “resource curse” showing worse economic development than countries with fewer resources, this has been due to weak democratic development, corruption, and civil war. Increased levels of corruption in the mining sector resulted in great political instability because whoever controls the assets usually those with political might use them for their own benefit, the increase in importance of minerals like cobalt and coltan due to the ubiquity and necessity of mobile phones which heavily rely on these materials has resulted in warlords and armies in DRC converting ASMs (Artisan and small miners) into slave laborers, soaring prices of materials like coltan are said to have brought militias more than 20 million dollars (about twice the cost of a celebrity mansion) a month. With increasing demand from buyers to purchase ethically sourced materials there is an increasing need to reform the mining industry in DRC and one of the propositions is through ethical supply chain management using blockchain technology. One of the major benefits of blockchain technology is accountability according to UN surveys military occupation by Ugandan and Rwandese soldiers plus other foreign military forces as well as many bands of Congo military factions fighting there was massive looting of Congolese natural resources and the fighters were enriching themselves by mining and smuggling out coltan, Copper, gold, diamonds etc. This could have been averted if there was an accountability measure in the purchase and resale of these materials that is in the supply chain of these ores. Accountability or lack thereof which has led to unspeakable evils like slave labor is not the only malevolent act that has been a result of these mining expeditions soil erosion and other environmental concerns like pollution of rivers and the increasing reduction of eastern mountain gorillas is just another example. This paper will talk about how blockchain can be integrated into this supply chain network to enhance traceability, increase efficiency and speed of supply, improve financing, contracting, and international transactions and how a workable technology can be created.