In a press release on Thursday, Glencore, one of the world’s biggest cobalt producers, announced it would use RSBN‘s ‘Hyperledger Fabric platform’ for its cobalt production and become a full consortium member by February 2020.

The release follows Glencore’s earlier pledge to consider blockchain in its supply chain. In October, it admitted to “design and deploy blockchain solutions” in association with the ‘World Economic Forum’ and six other mining stakeholders.

RBSN seems to be the beneficiary of that drive. The cross-industry consortium of miners, refineries, carmakers, and tech companies has already been carving out an audited minerals-tracing platform, which operates atop the IBM blockchain.

It endeavors to supplement transparency to the mining supply chain, an industry often damaged by reports of unfair worker treatment, including general child labor in the ‘Democratic Republic of Congo,’ a global cobalt hotspot.

RSBN’s member groups have concentrated on cobalt as the platform’s first test mineral. Cobalt is a vital component in lithium-ion battery design, leading companies including Ford, Volvo, Volkswagen, LG Chemical, and IBM to sign on.

The pilot run tracked a “1.5 ton” batch of cobalt from ‘Congolese mines’ to a ‘Ford Motor Company’ plant in ‘Mexico.’ Presently, RSBN members state they will take the system to live in commercial production early next year.

According to its press release, Glencore intends to achieve the platform by “spring 2020”. It will initially focus on cobalt; nonetheless, Glencore announced it would bring tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold over the platform next year.

“RSBN plays an important role in advancing the sustainable partnership between the producers of commodities that will enable the transition to a low-carbon economy and key consumers around the world,” Nico Paraskevas, Glencore’s cobalt marketing chief, said in the press release.