A team of former traders from Glencore (LON:GLEN) will launch Wednesday an online platform to connect miners with customers such as smelters and sign deals without the need of brokers.

The online marketplace, named Open Mineral, will let miners put up tenders for their concentrate directly to end-users.

The platform will focus first on gold, silver, copper, zinc and lead, which represent a combined market worth about $50 billion.

Smelters and miners could potentially boost returns by millions of dollars by dealing directly in the concentrate market, which is inefficient and opaque, chief executive Boris Eykher told Reuters.

Open Mineral will also provide trade services such as transportation, surveying, assaying and insurance. The company is now accepting registrations and the marketplace will go live in August.

Since annual concentrate deals for the year are already set, the new online tool will target spot and 2018 contracts, which are due to be negotiated before the end of the year.

Open Mineral is not the first attempt to take the trading of metals from the physical to the online world. Last month, the former chief executive officer of the London Metals Exchange launched an alternative electronic trading platform for metals.

By Mining.com