Blockhead Elevates Ethical Gold: Hazeldine to Chair Global ESG Provenance Push

Blockhead Technologies, the Perth-based firm digitising gold’s backstory with its flagship ProvCheck® platform, has made a strategic leadership move as it sharpens its global growth ambitions. In a clear signal of intent, the company has appointed capital markets veteran Warrick Hazeldine as Chair, with a mandate to propel its international expansion and lock in ProvCheck as the gold industry’s digital gold standard.

Warrick Hazeldine

Founded to inject trust into the often opaque world of precious metals, Blockhead has been quietly building momentum with ProvCheck—a blockchain-enabled platform that digitally fingerprints every gold bar and dore from mine to market. By verifying provenance, tracking carbon emissions, and foiling fraud with AI-driven tamper detection, the platform aims to turn ethical sourcing from aspiration into actionable reality.

Now, with ESG scrutiny tightening and the gold price flirting with record highs, Blockhead’s moment may have arrived. Hazeldine, the former founding partner of Cannings Purple (now Purple Group) and a long-time advisor to ASX-listed miners, has stepped in at what CEO Greg Leach calls a “pivotal phase” for the company.

“Warrick has built and scaled businesses, understands the resources sector deeply, and brings a global network of investors and industry leaders,” Leach said. “His appointment reflects Blockhead’s ambition to establish ProvCheck as the international gold standard in digital provenance and ESG verification.”

Hazeldine, for his part, doesn’t mince words. “With the gold price at record highs, the industry must ensure provenance and ESG impact are transparently tracked,” he said. “ProvCheck provides that capability. Our goal now is to raise awareness across the global gold mining fraternity—miners, refiners, and ultimately consumers—that verified provenance is fast becoming a market necessity.”

A Fingerprint You Can’t Fake

ProvCheck is already more than a prototype or pitch deck. In collaboration with cornerstone client ABC Refinery—Australia’s only independent LBMA-accredited refiner—Blockhead has embedded the platform into real-world refining workflows. Each bar is tagged with a unique digital fingerprint, capturing data on origin, handling, and emissions from mining through refining and logistics.

The result is a tamper-proof, mobile-verifiable chain of custody. Buyers and investors can scan a bar and instantly access its provenance and carbon footprint via the ProvCheck app, delivering a transparency layer the gold market has long lacked.

LBMA has taken notice, accrediting ProvCheck as a Security Feature under its Gold Bar Integrity Initiative. That recognition doesn’t just open doors—it sets a precedent. Verified gold is now on a different playing field, with institutional buyers increasingly willing to pay premiums for bars with a traceable, auditable story.

“ProvCheck represents a step change in security feature technology,” said Ben Kirkwood, ESG Lead at Pallion, the parent company of ABC Refinery. “It provides a seamless way for investors and buyers to verify the authenticity and sustainability credentials of their gold.”

The Two-Speed Future of Gold

Blockhead’s pitch is simple: in a market where trust commands value, unverifiable gold is fast becoming second-tier. Regulators and buyers alike are tightening expectations, driven by the London Bullion Market Association’s Responsible Sourcing Program and the World Gold Council’s ESG frameworks. That’s creating a bifurcated future—one lane for verified, ESG-compliant gold, and another for discounted, opaque-origin bars.

As demand grows for transparent sourcing, Blockhead is angling to be the provider of choice. The company is now actively engaging with international refiners, miners, and funds to extend ProvCheck’s reach across borders.

From tamper-proofing to carbon accounting, the platform offers not just compliance, but competitive edge. Gold with a verifiable backstory isn’t just more trustworthy—it’s more tradable.

“Gold without proof is becoming harder to sell,” reads one of Blockhead’s flyers bluntly. It’s a message miners would do well to heed.

What’s Next?

With Hazeldine’s appointment, the company has added more than just a figurehead. It now has a chair steeped in resource-sector networks, with a track record of building visibility and momentum—precisely what Blockhead needs as it prepares to scale ProvCheck globally.

For investors watching the intersection of tech and mining, Blockhead may still be flying under the radar. But in a sector overdue for digitisation, and amid a global push for supply chain accountability, the company’s story is increasingly hard to ignore.

As Hazeldine puts it: “Verified provenance is fast becoming a market necessity.” With ProvCheck, Blockhead is aiming to make it a market expectation.