Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos are among a group of billionaires who have invested $150 million in KoBold Metals, a startup, to help it develop Zambia’s Mingomba Copper-Cobalt Mine.
At the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, D.C., the corporation made this announcement.
The mine is thought to contain the highest-grade big undeveloped deposit of orange metal in the entire globe.
The startup, which has Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures and the world’s top miner BHP (ASX: BHP) as shareholders, will use its artificial intelligence tools to process drilling data and optimize exploration for copper and cobalt at Mingomba. KoBold’s investors include Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a climate and technology fund founded by Microsoft’s Bill Gates and backed by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Virgin’s Richard Branson.
Mingomba contains 247 million tonnes of ore with an average grade of 3.64% copper. This figure represents about six times higher grades than those found in Chile, the world’s top copper-producing nation, according to KoBold.
The mine expansion would be a huge triumph for Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema, who has set an ambitious copper output target of 3 million tonnes a year by 2032, from approximately 850,000 tonnes the country presently produces.
What President Hichilema said
Our message to the world is that Zambia is here, and is open for business.
This investment today is not about KoBold, it’s not about ZCCM, it’s not about Zambia, it’s about all of these, and the rest of the world, as we grapple with climate change,”.
In the first quarter of 2023, the investment agreement that will give KoBold a controlling interest in Mingomba is expected to be finalized.
About Kobold Metals
KoBold Metals is a maker of machine prospector technology that makes it easier to find cobalt ore deposits online. It was established in 2018 by Kurt House in Berkeley, California. One of KoBold’s backers is Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a climate and technology fund established by Bill Gates of Microsoft and supported by Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Richard Branson of Virgin.
In order to locate cobalt reserves, KoBold wants to build a “Google Maps” of the Earth’s crust. For a better understanding of potential locations for new deposits, it gathers and analyzes a variety of data sources, including satellite imaging and previous drilling findings.
