Page 16 - Bullion World Volume 03 Issue 07 July 2022
P. 16
Bullion World | Volume 5 | Issue 09 | September 2025
B ullion W orld | V olume 5 | I ssue 09 | S ep t ember 2025
FROM DIRT TO DATA:
HOW WEB 3.0 CAN REWIRE
GOLD SUPPLY AT THE SOURCE
Mr Lamon Rutten, Managing Director & CEO, IGM (India Gold Metaverse)
Across the world many refineries struggle to
secure enough raw material to run anywhere
near full capacity. Competition for doré is
intense. Large mines are often integrated with
refineries, which leaves little feedstock for
independents. Partnering with new miners is
risky: very few exploration projects ever become
producing mines, and only a small share of listed
juniors reach production. With deep pockets you
could start a streaming or royalty fund and wait
years for deliveries, but that approach is capital
heavy. The remaining path, namely sourcing from
artisanal and small-scale gold miners (ASGM),
has historically been equally hard. Web 3.0 can
change that calculus.
Refineries serving Western clients have been
reluctant to buy from ASGM because material
often lacks the “responsibly produced”
provenance they require. ASGM spans the
spectrum from individual panners to semi-
mechanized crews. Methods are basic,
Mr Lamon Rutten safety practices weak, environmental impacts
significant, and formal rights often absent.
Mercury and increasingly cyanide use is
common. Seen through a conventional lens this
is a compliance headache. Seen through a Web
3.0 lens it is an opportunity to finance cleaner
production, prove provenance in real time, and
align incentives so that everyone wins.
Web 3.0 technologies (blockchain, Internet Mercury amalgamation remains popular because
of Things, artificial intelligence, digital it is cheap and fast, but it loses a lot of gold.
twins and the metaverse) can streamline Gravity methods typically recover more metal
processes and unlock workflows that were and can be safer, yet the upfront cost puts them
impractical before. The gold sector is a out of reach for most small miners.
prime candidate for this shift.
16
