Page 17 - Bullion World Volume 03 Issue 07 July 2022

Bullion World | Volume 5 | Issue 09 | September 2025

Table: Gold Recovery Efficiencies

Method Typical Gold Recovery (%)
Mercury amalgamation (primitive methods) 40–60% (typically ~50%)

Improved mercury amalgamation techniques 60–80%
Gravity separation (sluices, shaking tables) 60–90%
Advanced gravity separation (centrifugal concentrators) 80–95%

The payback on better equipment is often only 6–18 when breaches occur, they can pause payments
months, depending on grade and local prices. and alert human reviewers.
A refinery could finance the upgrade in return for a
share of output. The environment improves, the refiner • The metaverse provides shared, immersive
secures responsibly sourced doré, and miners earn dashboards for miners, refiners, lenders and
more while reducing exposure to hazardous chemicals. auditors. Participants can monitor sites, manage
In practice, simple paper agreements often fail: cash- exposures and, when necessary, exercise controls
constrained miners juggle competing demands, and such as remote disabling of financed equipment
financiers have little leverage once equipment is on until issues are resolved.
site. This is where Web 3.0 tools can make the deal
both enforceable and fair. In a full build-out these applications sit inside a broader
tokenization structure. Reserves and stockpiles can be
Consider what Web 3.0 has in its toolbox: represented as on-chain claims tied to independent
• Blockchain is built for traceability. Fungible assays and updated as mining progresses. Offtake
tokens can represent material as it moves from streams can be wrapped in tokens with transfer
ore to doré to bars; NFTs can anchor documents restrictions so only whitelisted buyers can hold them.
and compliance attestations. Chain-of-custody Lifecycle events, from shipment creation to assay
tagging links each shipment or bar to a tamper- variance to royalty payment, are recorded once and
evident record. Programs already exist where reused by all parties. Secondary trading can provide
cryptographic seals are applied to doré containers liquidity for financing commitments without breaking
and each custody hand-off is logged on a ledger. compliance.
With that provenance, refiners can prove origin
and process and capture a modest premium for None of this removes the need for sound law, good
responsibly produced gold. geology and honest operations. It does, however,
replace paper promises and opaque spreadsheets
• The Internet of Things adds trustworthy data at with verifiable data, shared state and programmable
the edge. Weighbridges, load cells, belt scales incentives. Refineries gain reliable, certified feedstock.
and volumetric scanners feed oracles that update Miners unlock capital and better technology.
token balances as ore moves. Sensors can Communities see lower mercury use and clearer
monitor water quality, air emissions and tailings accountability. And investors don’t need a billion-dollar
stability. Geofencing and telematics keep financed fund to participate in building cleaner, bankable gold
equipment within licensed zones and flag misuse. supply chains.
Because data is signed at source and pushed to
the ledger, financiers and regulators see the same Done right, the same tools that clean up artisanal
state in near real time. supply can improve everything that happens after
the mine. Digital IDs can streamline trade, payments
• Artificial intelligence turns raw telemetry and deliveries. Tokenisation allows cost-effective
into decisions. Models can detect anomalies, trade even of small quantities, and new ways to use
verify compliance against thresholds, forecast gold as collateral. Even a jewellery shop can benefit
maintenance and estimate recoveries from sensor considerably from Web 3.0 applications.
patterns. When targets are met, smart contracts In short, Web 3.0 can reshape the gold ecosystem
can release incentive payments automatically; end to end, upstream at the mine, through trading and
investment and all the way to the jewellery counter.

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