Anonymous ID: e59e59 Jan. 6, 2025, 3:26 p.m. No.22305327   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>5335

Mining start-up backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos valued at $2.96bn

 

A mining and artificial intelligence start-up backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos has raised $537mn in its latest funding round, as it seeks to become a key player in the race for the critical minerals needed for the energy transition.

Berkeley-based KoBold Metals said its series C funding round valued the company at $2.96bn, and was co-led by existing investor T Rowe Price, which has been joined by Durable Capital Partners.

Existing investors including Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures and US venture capital group Andreessen Horowitz also participated in the round, along with new backers including private capital group StepStone.

KoBold, which has raised $1bn to date, is among the western mining companies seeking to compete with Chinese rivals to produce metals such as copper, lithium and nickel.

The metals are used in everything from batteries for electric vehicles to the defence industry, and western governments have been increasingly seeking to diversify away from supply chains dominated by China.

 

As part of these efforts, the US is helping finance the revival of the Lobito railway line that will transport critical minerals across swaths of Africa and connect the Democratic Republic of Congo with Zambia and Angola.

KoBold, which uses AI to comb through historical and scientific data to identify untapped mineral deposits, said in February that it had discovered a huge deposit of copper in Zambia. The $2bn Mingomba site would produce at least 300,000 tonnes per year from the 2030s, KoBold said.

KoBold’s co-founder and chief executive Kurt House said about 40 per cent of the new capital would be spent on developing existing projects into mines, with the Zambian copper project taking “the lion’s share of that”.

The company — which uses OpenAI’s generative AI technology as well as more traditional AI — planned to “add at least three jurisdictions” including Finland and Botswana, House said, adding that he was excited about the prospects for lithium mining in Canada.

House said he was confident that there was broad political support in the US for improving access to critical minerals despite incoming president Donald Trump having indicated that he wants to roll back support for electric vehicles — a key market for metals including lithium.

There is “very broad bipartisan support for diversifying [the] supply of critical minerals” because this is a “national security priority”, he said. “We’ve had plenty of conversations with people who will be associated with the next administration who are very enthusiastic about KoBold’s mission.”

 

KoBold plans to hire “aggressively” and add data scientists who have a more traditional technology background to its teams, as well geoscientists to survey possible deposits and collect data, said House. The company was likely to go public within three to five years, he added.

“There’s a real demand from [mining] majors to partner with [KoBold] so clearly they’re doing something right,” said David George, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. “I don’t think there’s an obvious modern competitor in the space.”

KoBold has an exploration partnership with mining major BHP in Western Australia and is also working with Rio Tinto.

Carmichael Roberts, managing partner at Breakthrough Energy Ventures, said KoBold’s AI-driven approach to mineral exploration would create “a more secure, affordable, and clean energy future for all”.

 

https://archive.is/zFDM9#selection-2505.0-2523.200

Anonymous ID: e59e59 Jan. 6, 2025, 3:28 p.m. No.22305337   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>5467 >>5595 >>5698 >>5733

Laken Riley act is first bill in Senate

 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune revealed to the Daily Caller News Foundation Monday that the Senate has chosen to crack down on illegal migrant criminals as its first order of business due to an “urgent need” for action amid the Biden-Harris border crisis.

 

“Laken Riley’s horrific murder at the hands of an illegal alien should have never happened,” Thune told the DCNF. “There is an urgent need to take action regarding the border crisis to protect the American people, which is why I chose this as the first bill [Laken Riley Act] the Senate will vote on this Congress.”

 

The Senate will likely vote on the legislation as early as this Friday, the DCNF has learned.

 

The House of Representatives is also slated to vote this week on companion legislation sponsored by Georgia Republican Rep. Mike Collins that would also target illegal migrants who commit theft-related crimes.

 

“An illegal criminal came into my district and killed Laken Riley because our law enforcement did not have the tools to stop him,” Collins told the DCNF. “Laken fought until her last breath, and so will I until this bill crosses the finish line and lands on the President’s desk.”

 

The bills seek to honor the memory of Laken Riley, a University of Georgia nursing student who was murdered by an illegal migrant while out on a run near her college campus in February 2024. Riley’s killer, Venezuelan national Jose Antonio Ibarra, had a criminal record in the United States prior to killing Riley and was convicted of murdering the 22 year-old college student in November 2024.

 

Ibarra and his brother were previously arrested in October 2022 for allegedly shoplifting at a Walmart in Athens, Georgia, but were ultimately released because the shoplifting charge was a misdemeanor.

 

If the legislation up for consideration in the House and Senate passes both chambers and is signed into law by President-elect Donald Trump, federal immigration authorities would be required to detain illegal migrants like Ibarra who commit theft-related crimes in the United States.

 

The Trump-Vance transition team did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s inquiry about whether Trump would sign the legislation cracking down on illegal migrant criminals into law.

 

https://dailycallernewsfoundation.org/2025/01/06/exclusive-john-thune-reveals-why-hes-having-senate-take-up-one-bill-in-particular-as-its-first-order-of-business/

Anonymous ID: e59e59 Jan. 6, 2025, 3:28 p.m. No.22305341   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>5467 >>5595 >>5698 >>5733

Mining start-up backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos valued at $2.96bn

 

A mining and artificial intelligence start-up backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos has raised $537mn in its latest funding round, as it seeks to become a key player in the race for the critical minerals needed for the energy transition.

 

Berkeley-based KoBold Metals said its series C funding round valued the company at $2.96bn, and was co-led by existing investor T Rowe Price, which has been joined by Durable Capital Partners.

 

Existing investors including Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures and US venture capital group Andreessen Horowitz also participated in the round, along with new backers including private capital group StepStone.

 

KoBold, which has raised $1bn to date, is among the western mining companies seeking to compete with Chinese rivals to produce metals such as copper, lithium and nickel.

 

The metals are used in everything from batteries for electric vehicles to the defence industry, and western governments have been increasingly seeking to diversify away from supply chains dominated by China.

 

As part of these efforts, the US is helping finance the revival of the Lobito railway line that will transport critical minerals across swaths of Africa and connect the Democratic Republic of Congo with Zambia and Angola.

 

KoBold, which uses AI to comb through historical and scientific data to identify untapped mineral deposits, said in February that it had discovered a huge deposit of copper in Zambia. The $2bn Mingomba site would produce at least 300,000 tonnes per year from the 2030s, KoBold said.

 

KoBold’s co-founder and chief executive Kurt House said about 40 per cent of the new capital would be spent on developing existing projects into mines, with the Zambian copper project taking “the lion’s share of that”.

 

The company — which uses OpenAI’s generative AI technology as well as more traditional AI — planned to “add at least three jurisdictions” including Finland and Botswana, House said, adding that he was excited about the prospects for lithium mining in Canada.

 

House said he was confident that there was broad political support in the US for improving access to critical minerals despite incoming president Donald Trump having indicated that he wants to roll back support for electric vehicles — a key market for metals including lithium.

 

There is “very broad bipartisan support for diversifying [the] supply of critical minerals” because this is a “national security priority”, he said. “We’ve had plenty of conversations with people who will be associated with the next administration who are very enthusiastic about KoBold’s mission.”

 

KoBold plans to hire “aggressively” and add data scientists who have a more traditional technology background to its teams, as well geoscientists to survey possible deposits and collect data, said House. The company was likely to go public within three to five years, he added.

 

“There’s a real demand from [mining] majors to partner with [KoBold] so clearly they’re doing something right,” said David George, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. “I don’t think there’s an obvious modern competitor in the space.”

 

KoBold has an exploration partnership with mining major BHP in Western Australia and is also working with Rio Tinto.

 

Carmichael Roberts, managing partner at Breakthrough Energy Ventures, said KoBold’s AI-driven approach to mineral exploration would create “a more secure, affordable, and clean energy future for all”.

 

https://archive.is/zFDM9#selection-2505.0-2523.200