KoBold Leverages AI to Discover Copper, Attracting $537M in New Investment

On Wednesday, KoBold Metals completed a $537 million Series C funding round, aiming to build a multi-billion-dollar mine to extract copper deposits discovered through AI. This new investment round was led by Durable Capital Partners and T. Rowe Price and will help expand KoBold’s exploration efforts across five continents, particularly focusing on a large copper mine in Zambia. According to The Financial Times, the funding has boosted KoBold’s valuation to $2.96 billion.
The final closing amount exceeded the company’s initial target by $10 million, as TechCrunch reported in October. This success highlights growing interest in leveraging cutting-edge technology to transform industries with traditionally low success rates, like mining.
The mining industry, known for its high risk, has long been ripe for technological disruption. For every 1,000 potential mineral deposits explored, only about 3 are commercially viable. Despite these odds, KoBold, founded in 2018, uses AI to analyze vast geological data sets in hopes of improving the chances of finding valuable resources. The company’s decision to develop a major resource in Zambia, one of the largest recently discovered copper deposits, suggests that its AI-based approach may be yielding significant rewards.
The rising importance of critical minerals, especially as geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China over supply chains grow, further highlights the significance of KoBold's work. With China already imposing bans on exports of antimony, gallium, and germanium to the U.S., and even proposing to restrict lithium and gallium processing technologies, the global scramble for vital minerals is intensifying. KoBold’s AI-driven mining approach might not only reshape the mining industry but also contribute to the stability of critical resource supply chains.
KoBold's use of AI to tackle the complex and high-risk world of mining shows how technology can be applied in unexpected areas to solve longstanding problems. If successful, it could offer a more sustainable and efficient way to discover and extract minerals, potentially lowering environmental and financial risks. Given the growing global demand for critical minerals, KoBold’s work may have far-reaching implications, not only for the mining sector but also for the geopolitical dynamics surrounding resource management.