KoBold Metals, backed by a coalition of billionaires including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, has launched a four-continent search for deposits of lithium, the coveted metal used in batteries that power electric vehicles and high-tech devices.
The California-based startup, already working on opening a new copper-cobalt mine in Zambia, will deploy the latest technology to search for lithium in South Korea, Canada, the United States, Australia and Africa, it said in the statement.
Chief executive Kurt House noted the addition of lithium to the portfolio of battery metals KoBold wants to mine follows successes in exploring for nickel and copper in Canada and Zambia.
“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.”
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