Gates, Bezos-backed firm searching for cobalt in Canada
KoBold Metals, a start-up backed by a coalition of
billionaires led by Bill Gates, plans to scour for cobalt in Canada using
advanced mapping technology and it’s targeting northern Quebec, just south of
Glencore’s Raglan nickel mine.
The company, founded in 2018, has acquired rights to an area
of about 1,000 square kilometres (386 sq. miles), where it plans to begin
collecting geophysical data before the end of the year.
KoBold’s backers include big names such as Venture capital
firm Andreessen Horowitz and Breakthrough Energy Ventures. The latter is
financed by well-known billionaires including Jeff Bezos, Ray Dalio, Michael
Bloomberg, Richard Branson and Gates.
KoBold aims to create a “Google Maps” of the Earth’s crust,
with a special focus on finding cobalt deposits. It collects and analyzes
multiple streams of data — from old drilling results to satellite imagery — to
better understand where new deposits might be found.
Algorithms applied to the data collected determine the
geological patterns that indicate a potential deposit of cobalt, which occurs
naturally alongside nickel and copper.
Chief executive officer Kurt House believes the company’s
exploration activities at the site in Quebec could help prove the value of its
approach.
“The subtleties in the geophysical signals are really only
evident when you have all of the data and can evaluate it in a systematic,
statistically rigorous way,” House told Bloomberg on Tuesday. “It’s just too
much for the human brain to handle.”
KoBold’s boss noted the company was likely to begin
collecting geophysical data in the next three to six months. Drilling, House
said, could start in a couple of years.
The California-based firm also expects to bring in other
investors, potentially including its current backers, on a deposit-by-deposit
basis. It will also seek mining-savvy partners once it has identified an
interesting project.
Not a miner
KoBold, as House has stated multiple times, does not intend
to be a mine operator “ever.”
This is not the first time the American start-up eyes
Canada. Public records show that Faith in Gravity Holdings Inc., which is
registered in British Columbia, staked last year claims in the northeast corner
of Saskatchewan.
The holding company’s directors, according to The Star
Phoenix, are Kobold Metals’ top three executives.
Currently, about 65% of the world’s cobalt is mined in the
Democratic Republic of Congo, much of it by hand and employing children and
young men.
New cobalt mines outside the DCR could become the preferred
source of ethically-mined cobalt in the medium-term.
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