According to a report by Mining.com citing the Financial Times (FT), KoBold Metals, a company backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, is expanding its operations to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and plans to invest billions of US dollars in this resource-rich African country.
The newly appointed general manager of the company, Benjamin Katabuka, told the FT that KoBold hopes to make "big discoveries" in the DRC.
The DRC is currently the world's largest producer of cobalt and Africa's largest producer of copper.
He added that KoBold will apply to the DRC government for exploration permits for copper, cobalt, and lithium ore, all of which are abundant in the DRC but underdeveloped.
The FT, citing Katabuka, reported that these investments could amount to "billions of US dollars".
Since Freeport-McMoRan divested its stake in the Tenke Fungurume copper mine, few US companies have ventured into the DRC.
Katabuka said that the DRC government is "keen to invite Western investors to invest".
KoBold's arrival in the DRC coincides with the government's negotiations with the US on a minerals-for-security agreement.
Regarding country risks, Katabuka candidly admitted that operating in the country is "difficult", but he emphasized that production will be carried out to high standards.
KoBold specializes in using artificial intelligence to identify undiscovered critical mineral deposits and has 60 projects across four continents. In Africa, the company's main destination is Zambia, where it announced last year the discovery of what is believed to be the largest copper mine in Zambia in a century.
Expanding into the DRC means that the company is now active in Africa's two largest copper-producing countries. Earlier this year, the company also headed to Namibia to explore for lithium and nickel ore.
