One of Silicon Valley’s most exciting startups has partnered with a publicly traded Canadian mining company. Why? To find copper in Zambia.
What’s happening:
- KoBold Metals has entered into a joint venture agreement with Midnight Sun Mining (TSXV:MMA) to explore their Zambia based copper project
Why it matters:
- KoBold Metals is one of the most exciting technology companies focused on bringing machine learning to mining, with notable backers including Bill Gates’s venture capital fund Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Jeff Bezos and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board
By the numbers:
- The deal between Kobold Metals and Midnight Sun Mining is structured as an earn in agreement, which allows KoBold to earn up to 75% ownership in the Zambia project
- KoBold Metals will pay $15M USD in exploration costs over a 4 year period
- The agreement will allow KoBold to explore approximately 108 kilometres of the Zambia property, with the remaining 398 kilometres staying under ownership by Midnight Sun Mining
Going deeper:
- KoBold Metals has made significant progress in leveraging machine learning, artificial intelligence and data analysis for being able to precisely identify where large deposits of battery metals may exist
- KoBold’s current flagship property is also located in Zambia, where they have been actively completing resource definition drilling and a pre-feasibility study
