The Future of Gold Mining in Blockchain Technology: What to Expect?

Gold mining is a global industry with operations worldwide, with most production concentrated in China, South Africa, Australia, Russia, Peru, and Indonesia. While gold is economically important to these countries, the environmental and societal costs are significant, long-lasting, and potentially outweigh the economic benefits of mining.

The mining industry emits 4-7% of global greenhouse gasses, with a single ounce of gold generating up to 800 kilograms of emissions. In fact, producing enough gold for even a single wedding ring generates20 tons of waste. Gold mining pollutes water and land with heavy metals and chemicals such as mercury and cyanide, endangering not only the environment but also the health of mine workers and the communities adjacent to these mines.

The ongoing climate crisis highlights just how devastating these consequences are and the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions to become net-zero by 2050.

But how can we reduce instances of gold mining when gold continues to be in high demand, as it is undoubtedly a great store of value and a safe bet against inflation? Proof-of-Stake (PoS) may be the answer to meeting both that demand and our net-zero target, as it is the key to holding gold as an asset without suffering the consequences of mining. Using Proof of Stake, users may lock in their assets without the need for extraction and consequential waste and pollution. And this is what Nature’s Vault is pioneering.

How does Proof-of-Stake work?

With Proof of Stake, participants or “validators” can lock up a set amount of tokens or assets (their stake) in a smart contract on the blockchain. In exchange, participants get a chance to validate other transactions on the blockchain and get a reward. These rewards open the door to more people who want to participate as validators.

One need not have expensive computing systems or pay for massive consumptions of electricity to stake tokens or assets since crypto exchanges like Coinbase and Binance are making this feature more accessible and easy to use on their platforms. Depending on the blockchain, users may earn 5% to 14% on their holdings by staking.

In addition to that, the Preserve-to-Earn (PTE) concept also generates rewards for users that preserve resources underground instead of exploiting them. In doing so, users earn additional value on their tokens, benefiting them and the environment.

What Nature’s Vault has done is combine these two concepts to develop a solution that addresses the negative environmental impacts of unnecessary gold mining.

The Legacy Token

In an effort to create a tokenized representation of valuable resources in the ground, Nature’s Vault has created the Legacy Token, a token backed by the preservation of at least 1/100th of a gram of gold in the ground. By tokenizing the preservation of gold, Legacy Token allows investors to benefit from holding the safe-haven asset and preserving surrounding ecosystems and nearby communities.

The Nature’s Vault team identifies and evaluates gold deposits in areas of undisturbed natural beauty and acquires patented mining rights to those deposits that have already been independently quantified according to the same rigorous standards required of public mining companies by Canadian law. The corresponding, independently validated technical reports attached to these mines provide an estimate for the in-ground mineral resource quantities to substantiate the gold deposits. The reports then become available for Legacy Token holders to review.

Because patented mining rights have no expiry date,  Nature’s Vault ensures that the underlying gold remains preserved indefinitely. This enables investors to make a commitment to spare the planet of the negative social and environmental impacts of gold mining while still reaping the same benefits of conventional gold investment.

Nature’s Vault has already acquired 150,000 ounces of gold through its acquisition of the Pistol Lake mine located in Ontario, Canada. Moving forward, a portion of the proceeds from Legacy Token sales will be used to continue acquiring control over an additional 850,000 ounces of in-ground gold within one year of the Legacy Token public launch. Upon reaching this goal, each Legacy Token will represent 6.1/100 grams of in-ground gold. This represents a potential 600% increase in the preserved gold attached to each Legacy Token.

In addition, Nature’s Vault is reserving 75,000,000 tokens for their Preserve-to-Earn staking program with three distinct staking pools with varying rewards based on lock-up terms of 30, 90, and 180 days.

The Future of Blockchain in Gold

Blockchain technology is often at the center of conversations on the future of finance, but many have overlooked its immense potential to make a world of difference to the environment. From progress in energy and waste-recycling to environmental protection and carbon taxing, the world is already using blockchain technology to improve the world. Nature’s Vault adds to the roster with its innovative approach to providing investors the opportunity to purchase a commodity without harming the surrounding ecosystems and communities.

While there are many more hurdles to overcome in the fight against climate change, the possibilities of blockchain technology and Proof of Stake show great promise in enabling creative solutions to many of the problems faced today.