Internet in a Commodity Mining Company

Abstract

On August 16, 1999, the world’s first Internet commodity exchange-traded metals sale took place when WMC, an Australian resources company, sold five tons of cobalt at $18.25 a pound. Some metal traders had been buying and selling steel through Web sites, however, commodity exchange-traded metals had lagged behind the steel industry in the use of e-commerce, with most nonferrous companies and exchanges offering only information on products and services through the Web while continuing to trade using standard processes. WMC had introduced electronic commerce to one of the world’s oldest industries and became the first metal producer to use the Internet to support the marketing of nonferrou..