AVZ Discussion 2022
- Thread starter GazDix
- Start date
Chase
Regular
Yep Frank Cobber on the money..well said Cobber!!
Dave Evans
Regular
This X post was so funny I just couldn’t help myself. Thanks to our great saviour
@DrJPPham
@POTUS
Message from hailing signing today of Declaration of Principles between the #DRC & #Rwanda that can end the conflict in the eastern Congo as well as open the way for investments leading to peace & prosperity for people there and secure #CriticalMinerals for the #USA.
Department of State and 2 others
7:21 AM · Apr 26, 2025
19.7K Views
@DrJPPham
@POTUS
Message from hailing signing today of Declaration of Principles between the #DRC & #Rwanda that can end the conflict in the eastern Congo as well as open the way for investments leading to peace & prosperity for people there and secure #CriticalMinerals for the #USA.
Department of State and 2 others
7:21 AM · Apr 26, 2025
19.7K Views
Loading…
x.com
Mute22
Regular
Mining group backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos expands into DR Congo
KoBold bets country will be important to US efforts to secure minerals for energy transition
AVZ mentioned again.
Same article readable on MSN: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/top...-jeff-bezos-expands-into-dr-congo/ar-AA1DGMuO
Kobold even reposting on Linkedin. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kobo...s-and-jeff-activity-7322136759864090624-slTh/
Last edited:
Dave Evans
Regular
This X post was so funny I just couldn’t help myself. Thanks to our great saviour
@DrJPPham
@POTUS
Message from hailing signing today of Declaration of Principles between the #DRC & #Rwanda that can end the conflict in the eastern Congo as well as open the way for investments leading to peace & prosperity for people there and secure #CriticalMinerals for the #USA.
Department of State and 2 others
7:21 AM · Apr 26, 2025
19.7K Views
Loading…
x.com
The DRC and Rwanda Foreign Affairs Ministers signed the “declaration of principles” with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio as a witness.
The two sides committed to drafting an initial peace agreement no later than May 2, according to the declaration.
Click on “declaration”
for the link to itMassad Boulos, the US Senior Adviser to Africa was also there to witness the signing
Last edited:
Frank
Top 20
Mining group backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos expands into DR Congo
A mining start-up backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos is expanding into the Democratic Republic of Congo, in a bet that the resource-rich nation will be crucial to US efforts to compete with China for minerals that are needed for the energy transition.KoBold Metals, which deploys artificial intelligence to identify untapped mineral deposits, was betting “big” on DR Congo, said Benjamin Katabuka, its newly appointed director-general in the country.
The company would recruit staff in the country and planned to apply for licences to explore for lithium, copper and cobalt, he said.
The push into DR Congo comes as the African nation seeks to secure a minerals deal with the US, in talks that are part of President Donald Trump’s ambitions to break dependency on China for metals.
“KoBold is looking to go big in this country in terms of investment,” said Katabuka, a former employee of Freeport-McMoRan who has more than a decade of experience in the industry in DR Congo.
“Investments could be in the billions.”
Massad Boulos, Trump’s newly appointed senior adviser for Africa, said last week that he and DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi had in recent days discussed the development of a US-DR Congo minerals pact and had “chartered a path forward”.
“We’re having similar discussions with other neighbouring countries,” Boulos added.
“Our role is to facilitate those private sector investments” in the mining sector, including with American government funding, he said.
DR Congo is the world’s number one supplier of cobalt, a metal used in the production of batteries for electric vehicles.
But it is also in the midst of an armed conflict that has disrupted mining in the eastern part of the country, where the M23 rebel group has seized large areas of land.
Berkeley-based KoBold raised $537mn during its latest round in January from investors including Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures, whose backers include Bezos and former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg. The company has raised $1bn to date.
Katabuka acknowledged it was “difficult” to do business in DR Congo and that the perception of corruption was “high”.
KoBold would insist on “high standards” for its operations, he added.
Separately, several of the billionaires backing the mining operation have environmental interests in DR Congo through their philanthropic foundations.
The Bezos Earth Fund had pledged to protect the Congo basin, which the UN estimates stores about three years’ worth of global greenhouse gas emissions, from “degradation, deforestation and biodiversity loss” with grants of $110mn.
The Gates Foundation is supporting agricultural programmes in the region.
KoBold is also among the companies that are interested in developing a huge lithium deposit in DR Congo that is the subject of a legal dispute between Australia’s AVZ Minerals and China’s state-backed Zijin Mining.
The deposit had “the potential to become a large-scale, long-lived lithium mine”, KoBold wrote to the DR Congo government in January, according to a letter obtained by the Financial Times.
Mfikeyi Makayi, chief executive of KoBold Metals Africa, said the company was prepared to “look at” potential acquisition targets, although its main focus was on making new discoveries.
Many mines in DR Congo are run by Chinese groups, and no big American mining companies have operated there since Freeport-McMoRan sold its stake in the Tenke Fungurume copper mine to China’s CMOC in 2016.
Katabuka said the Congolese government was “interested in having some western investors coming into the country”, which would help “balance” China’s presence.
DR Congo wanted more metals processing to be done within the country, but it lacked the necessary infrastructure to do that, with mining companies even “struggling to get enough power for their production”, he said.
MSN
www.msn.com
Dave Evans
Regular
Mining group backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos expands into DR Congo
KoBold bets country will be important to US efforts to secure minerals for energy transitionwww.ft.com
AVZ mentioned again.
Same article readable on MSN: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/top...-jeff-bezos-expands-into-dr-congo/ar-AA1DGMuO
Kobold even reposting on Linkedin. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kobo...s-and-jeff-activity-7322136759864090624-slTh/
If KoBold are coming out with low-ball offers, there’s no excuse for it, especially if a peace agreement has been made between the DRC and Rwanda.
KoBold aren’t miners so there’s nothing stopping them from forming a JV with Rio Tinto, BHP or the Saudi’s and stumping up $10billion, I’m sure CATL would.
No one likes the waiting around, but now @Spikerama has the counters out there on Cominiere’s fines and the ICSID, I’m looking forward to their next findings.
DRC ICC Penalty Calculator 2.0
Calculates the amount of penalties the DRC has incurred since the first & 2nd violation of the ICC court ruling
drc-icc-penalty-counter-2.netlify.app
AVZ vs DRC @ ICSID - Final Countdown
Countdown to the ICSID tribunal of AVZ vs DRC (Congolese).
avz-icsid-final-countdown.netlify.app
And seeing it’s after midnight here, I’m going to beat you to it just this once Spike
34 Now follow the law
Last edited:
Spikerama
Regular
If KoBold are coming out with low-ball offers, there’s no excuse for it, especially if a peace agreement has been made between the DRC and Rwanda.
KoBold aren’t miners so there’s nothing stopping them from forming a JV with Rio Tinto, BHP or the Saudi’s and stumping up $10billion, I’m sure CATL would.
No one likes the waiting around, but now @Spikerama has the counters out there on Cominiere’s fines and the ICSID, I’m looking forward to their next findings.
DRC ICC Penalty Calculator 2.0
Calculates the amount of penalties the DRC has incurred since the first & 2nd violation of the ICC court rulingdrc-icc-penalty-counter-2.netlify.app
AVZ vs DRC @ ICSID - Final Countdown
Countdown to the ICSID tribunal of AVZ vs DRC (Congolese).avz-icsid-final-countdown.netlify.app
And seeing it’s after midnight here, I’m going to beat you to it just this once Spike
34 Now follow the law
View attachment 83264
Very good mate. Though I might put a landscape one later for those wanting one.
Rediah
Regular
If KoBold are coming out with low-ball offers, there’s no excuse for it, especially if a peace agreement has been made between the DRC and Rwanda.
KoBold aren’t miners so there’s nothing stopping them from forming a JV with Rio Tinto, BHP or the Saudi’s and stumping up $10billion, I’m sure CATL would.
No one likes the waiting around, but now @Spikerama has the counters out there on Cominiere’s fines and the ICSID, I’m looking forward to their next findings.
DRC ICC Penalty Calculator 2.0
Calculates the amount of penalties the DRC has incurred since the first & 2nd violation of the ICC court rulingdrc-icc-penalty-counter-2.netlify.app
AVZ vs DRC @ ICSID - Final Countdown
Countdown to the ICSID tribunal of AVZ vs DRC (Congolese).avz-icsid-final-countdown.netlify.app
And seeing it’s after midnight here, I’m going to beat you to it just this once Spike
34 Now follow the law
View attachment 83264
Bezos will need some lithium gold for his "anti-Tesla" truck
Re: DR Congo wanted more metals processing to be done within the country, but it lacked the necessary infrastructure to do that, with mining companies even “struggling to get enough power for their production”
After viewing 'Empire of Dust', why am I not surprised?.
I love the acknowledgement that doing business in DR Congo is difficult, and that the perception of corruption was high...perception? haha, that's the reality, and they better have a plan for dealing with it. Don't expect the government to step in. It's complicit up to its eyeballs.
Whoever buys out AVZ's assets at Manono better have seriously deep pockets in order to first rebuild after fifty years of looting and neglect. Sometimes knocking-down and rebuilding anew is cheaper and better than trying to repair the irreparable.
And then there's the workforce...oh dear.
Cheers
F
Last edited:
Skar
Regular
Yeah, if only the US had a history of their intelligence agencies staging coups and instilling puppet/sympathetic governments more aligned to US interests.
Mute22
Regular
Gates, Bezos-backed critical minerals explorer to ‘go big’ on Congo – report
These investments could potentially be
www.mining.com
Gates, Bezos-backed critical minerals explorer to ‘go big’ on Congo – report
Staff Writer | April 27, 2025 | 8:27 am Critical Minerals Exploration Suppliers & Equipment Africa USA Cobalt Copper Lithium
KoBold Metals is involved in nearly 60 explorations projects across three continents. (Image courtesy of KoBold Metals.)
KoBold Metals, the mining startup backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, is expanding its footprint into the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with plans to invest billions into the African nation’s large endowment of resources, the Financial Times reported.
Benjamin Katabuka, the country’s newly appointed director general, told the British newspaper that KoBold is looking to “go big” in the DRC, currently the world’s biggest producer of cobalt and the leading copper producer on the continent.
He added the company plans to apply for licences to explore for these two critical minerals as well as lithium, of which the DRC holds significant deposits but has yet to fully unlock.
These investments could potentially be “in the billions”, Katabuka said, as cited by the Financial Times article published late Saturday.
The report comes amid heightened trade tensions between the US and China, which saw the latter flex its dominant position in the critical minerals supply chain by placing export restrictions on rare earths.
In the Congo, many of its biggest mines are run by Chinese groups, while American companies have had little presence since Freeport-McMoRan sold its stake in the Tenke Fungurume copper mine to China’s CMOC in 2016.
Katabuka said the Congolese government is “interested in having some Western investors coming into the country” to balance China’s presence in the nation.
Congo minerals
KoBold’s push into Congo comes at a time when the African nation is negotiating with the US on a potential minerals pact. Earlier this year, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi offered a minerals-for-security deal to Washington in an effort to end the ongoing armed conflict with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels.On the jurisdictional risk, DRC’s Katabuka acknowledged that it has been “difficult” to do business in the country, but added that KoBold has assured that the company will demand “high standards” for its operations.
KoBold — which specializes in using artificial intelligence to identify untapped critical minerals deposits — has around 60 active projects across four continents. In Africa, its focal point has been Zambia, where last year it made what was the country’s largest copper discovery in a century. A move into Congo means the company would have a presence in Africa’s two largest copper producers. Earlier this year, it also expanded into Namibia, focusing on its deposits of lithium and nickel.
To support its critical minerals exploration, KoBold raised $537 million during its latest round from investors including Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Earthshot Ventures, Equinor, July Fund, Mitsubishi Corporation and Standard Investments. To date, the California-based company has raised $1 billion.
Rechnerhand
Regular
The agreement is a “declaration of principles”, which a diplomatic source described as “very broad objectives to work towards”.
Both sides will finalise the specifics in a few months and then sign the agreement, the source said.
Dave Evans
Regular
So a few months away
Erik Prince of the Blackwater Group also said in an interview recently that it would take about 3 months to assess how things are going regarding peace between Rwanda, the M23 militia, the DRC and other groups fighting over minerals in eastern DRC
For those that don’t know, his Blackwater Group is being paid hundreds of millions to provide security over there. I had a link to his recorded interview but it’s mysteriously disappeared off the site so here’s a link to it straight from Erik Prince’s X profile in his Media which hopefully works
Seeing that peace in the east can’t be guaranteed for at least a few months, I’m settled in now in hoping we go the full ICC and ICSID route. Better than having blow ins like KoBold trying to do deals with the corrupt DRC and make us a low-ball offer
We know the US Is desperate to get Manono, just give us a good offer or fuck off
Last edited:
Similar threads
