California company backed by Gates, Bezos staking claims in Sask. – by Alex MacPherson (Saskatoon StarPhoenix – April 26, 2019)

https://thestarphoenix.com/

KoBold Metals, which is based in California, is looking for ethical sources of cobalt, which is used in electric car batteries.

An American startup whose search for cobalt for batteries is backed by some of the world’s wealthiest people, including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, is staking claims in the northeast corner of Saskatchewan.

Public records show Faith in Gravity Holdings Inc., which is registered in British Columbia, staked its mineral claims this month. The holding company’s directors are the top three executives of California-based KoBold Metals.

Kobold Metals has raised money from the California venture capital firm Andreesen Horowitz as well as Breakthrough Energy, a two-year-old fund backed by, among others, Gates, Bezos, Richard Branson and Michael Bloomberg.

In an interview, KoBold Metals CEO Kurt House said Saskatchewan is one of many jurisdictions across five continents the company is exploring in its search for cobalt to increase the supply and reliability of batteries in a changing world.

“We need to rebuild the world’s energy infrastructure completely within the next 50 years, and that requires an enormous amount of new materials, different materials than we’ve used in the past — in particular, battery materials,” House said.

For the rest of this article: https://thestarphoenix.com/news/local-news/u-s-company-backed-by-gates-bezos-connected-to-sask-mining-exploration