KoBold Metals in a four-continental search for lithium deposits

KoBold Metals has started a four-continental search for lithium deposits. The company has its mining assets in various locations such as Zambia, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Western Australia (the result of joint ventures with BHP and Bluejay Mining Plc). Right now the company is working on the opening of a new copper-cobalt mine in Zambia and will deploy the technology to search a lithium in South Korea.

Importance of lithium

Kurt House aims to repeat the company’s successes for nickel and copper in Canada and Zambia in ongoing lithium projects.
“Two years ago, we hired lithium luminary Prof Robert Linnen to be KoBold’s Chief Geologist, Lithium, and since his arrival, we’ve been studying the fundamentals of lithium geochemistry,” House said. “We’re now deploying those insights [and] over the next decade, KoBold aims to develop enough new lithium to power hundreds of millions of electric vehicles.”

Machine learning

Based on machine learning the company, has earlier identified a lithium prospect in a region of the Baie James in Canada. It should be highlighted that the area in which it was found was previously thought to have no economic critical material deposits.

By applying the company’s solution and know-how, Kobold aims to create a “Google Maps” of the Earth’s crust, with a special focus on finding copper, cobalt, nickel, and lithium deposits.

Data input is a collection of multiple streams of data e.g. from old drilling results to satellite imagery. Based on the data the algorithms determine the geological patterns that indicate a potential deposit of cobalt, which occurs naturally alongside nickel and copper.

The company is backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.