KoBold Metals, backed by billionaires Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, is planning to open a new copper-cobalt mine in Zambia within the next decade.
The California-based company plans to continue its search for deposits at the asset, which is said to be the highest-grade undeveloped copper deposit in the world.
The company allocated $150 million to the Mingomba project this year.
KoBold, which counts BHP, the world's largest mining company, as a shareholder, plans to carry out further exploration of the property in the coming year.
“It’s a very attractive project and we have said within a decade we would want Mingomba to be a producing mine,” company chief executive Mfikeyi Makayi was quoted as saying by Reuters.
With an average copper grade of 3.64%, the Mingomba copper project in Zambia, Africa's second-largest copper producer, contains 247 million tonnes of ore.
Construction of the mine is expected to cost close to $1 billion.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
