Chemicals are essential components to processes that help build and deliver cutting-edge innovations that enhance human life on a grand scale.

In copper and cobalt mines, for instance, chemicals are used in the extraction processes of these precious metals. This copper and cobalt, once extracted and refined, is then supplied to relevant buyers, who may use them for the build and production of diverse products, such as smartphones. The copper will be used for wiring and the cobalt to build rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. Without chemicals to enable the extraction of these metals, these commodities would not be built in the ways that they are. Thus we are privileged to play a role in contributing to value chains and advancing society.

The rise of smartphones over the past decade is arguably the most important technological trend since the internet became a global commercial network in the ‘90s. Life as we knew it hasn’t been the same since. A mere 20 years ago, the term smartphone never even existed, let alone the device itself. Now, most people can’t remember the last time they didn’t use their smartphones for an entire day.

At present, “the smartphone” has an estimated 6.4 billion users worldwide, each embracing the tech to connect with each other, acquire information, be entertained, do business and of course, take and post selfies. Yet how often does one consider the
journey of how their smartphone came to be – its history before arriving in your hand?

In the supply chain, raw materials extraction such as metals and metal ores is essential to the assembling of a phone’s basic components. Smartphone circuit boards, for instance, utilise copper, gold, lead, silver and palladium. Their lithium-ion batteries are built with cobalt. Often these raw materials come from mines. Chemical reactions form part of the raw materials’ extraction processes, which is where Pure Trade Africa comes in.

We supply the chemicals and manage several logistical components that enable mines to chemically extract metals and metal ores from rock via extractive metallurgy – the practice of removing valuable metals from an ore and refining the extracted raw metals into a purer form.

Once chemically extracted and refined, these metals are then supplied to relevant buyers, who use them as manufacturing components for diverse commodity products like smartphones. Without chemicals to enable the metal extraction processes, smartphones would not be built in the ways that they are (if at all), nor operate in ways that have become so essential to human life. The components that power their technology may be different, which could affect the functionality of the phone, its apps and other features.

In the smartphone value chain, Pure Trade’s involvement in the procurement of raw materials needed to develop finished goods for end-consumer distribution is critical. We support a lean supply chain across diverse industries, not only the smartphone industry, supplying goods in the most efficient manner possible, with enough flexibility to adapt to sudden changes in our client’s needs and project journeys.