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KoBold Metals tells Congo to sort AVZ Minerals stoush after winning rights to hunt for lithium
KoBold Metals has been granted seven permits to search for lithium and other minerals in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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KoBold Metals tells Congo to sort AVZ Minerals stoush after winning rights to hunt for lithium
KoBold Metals has been granted seven permits to search for lithium and other minerals in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The US company, backed by billionaires including Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, applied for the licences last month shortly after signing an exploration pact, which Congo’s presidency said aims to “open the way to American investments” in the mining sector.
The central African nation is the world’s biggest producer of cobalt, the second-largest source of copper and has vast deposits of lithium and tantalum.
The exploration permits awarded to a KoBold unit this week are in the same area of southeastern Congo as the Manono lithium site which the Berkeley, California-based firm wants to develop into a major mine.
The rights allow it to prospect for minerals including lithium, manganese, tin and tantalum.
KoBold has informed Congo’s government that it would need to resolve a dispute with Australia’s AVZ Minerals before the US firm could advance its plans for Manono, which hosts one of the world’s biggest hard-rock lithium deposits.
AVZ alleges that Congo illegally terminated its rights to develop the project and has initiated arbitration proceedings against the state.
The push by KoBold - whose shareholders also include BHP, Andreesen Horowitz and Equinor ASA - comes as the US and Congolese governments work toward a strategic partnership to spur more mining investment by American companies.
Washington is trying to loosen China’s grip on supply chains for key minerals, including lithium that’s used electric-vehicle batteries.
Bloomberg.