KoBold Metals, backed by a coalition of billionaires including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, is expanding its search for lithium and nickel to Namibia.The company is prospecting for critical minerals in the southern and central regions of the African country, Mfikeyi Makayi, CEO of African operations, told Bloomberg.Using artificial intelligence, KoBold aims to create a “Google Maps” of the Earth’s crust, with a special focus on locating copper, cobalt, nickel, and lithium deposits.It secured licenses in Namibia in the third quarter of last year. The country, known primarily for uranium production, is not traditionally associated with lithium or nickel mining.“This is why we’re exploring,” Makayi told Bloomberg. “Just because it’s not known doesn’t mean the opportunities to look deeper aren’t there.”KoBold is still in the early stages of prospecting and field exploration before it begins drilling, she said.Copper expansionThe company also plans to invest $2 billion in the Mingomba copper-cobalt mine in Zambia, which is said to be the world’s highest-grade undeveloped large copper deposit. Mingomba contains 247 million tonnes of ore with an average grade of 3.64% copper.KoBold aims to produce over 300,000 tonnes of copper by the mid-2030s.KoBold was valued at nearly $3 billion in its latest fundraising round.The company began its quest for battery metals four years ago in Canada after acquiring rights to an area in northern Quebec, just south of Glencore’s Raglan nickel mine, where it detected lithium.The start-up now has about a dozen exploration properties in locations including Zambia, Namibia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Quebec, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Western Australia. These properties have resulted from joint ventures with BHP (ASX: BHP) and BlueJay Mining (LON: JAY) to explore for minerals in Greenland.KoBold also has ongoing exploration activities in South Korea and the United States.
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