Photos: KoBold Metals\Pascalmmp\Creative Commons
US mineral explorer KoBold Metals has proposed developing a lithium-rich site in DR Congo, as the country seeks a strategic partnership with Donald Trump’s administration.
KoBold, which uses artificial intelligence to drive discovery, aims to invest in the Roche Dure site that is regarded as holding a large deposit of lithium, a key mineral in the energy transition. The company, backed by a venture affiliated to Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos and valued at nearly $3 billion, wrote earlier this year to Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi’s office that it “would welcome the opportunity to develop the asset,” Bloomberg reported.
KoBold, which operates across 70 projects in five continents, invested $150 million in Zambia in 2023 to explore the Copperbelt region, and has drilled 50,000 meters at the Mingomba mine, which is projected to become the country’s biggest copper mine upon completion.
