Geologists from US mining company KoBold Metals are working deep in the Congolese bush with high-precision GPS units and tablets connected to an AI system running on servers thousands of kilometres away in California.
The company, founded in 2018 with backing from investors including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of a US strategy to secure strategic mineral supplies and reduce China’s dominance of the sector.
What the AI does
KoBold’s teams have been collecting an average of 2,000 soil samples a week since April.
At depths of a few dozen centimetres, analysis can detect a specific geochemical signature indicating pegmatite — the mineral from which lithium is extracted. The AI system uses that data to build predictive models.
“Once we’ve determined the presence of lithium at very specific points, that allows us to target the drilling,” said lab manager Kevin Tambwe.
The system has ingested historical geological maps, old drill logs dating back to the colonial era, and satellite imagery.
That is the technical proposition: a century of accumulated survey data, much of it gathered by Belgian colonial operations, reprocessed to decide where to drill now.
The competitive position
The DRC is the world’s second-largest copper producer and the largest producer of cobalt — both critical to rechargeable batteries. Yet the subsoil of a country spanning more than 2.3 million square kilometres remains largely unexplored. “The ideal conditions for major discoveries,” according to KoBold.
Global lithium demand is expected to more than double by 2030, on International Energy Agency projections.
China has invested heavily in the DRC since the 2000s and controls 70 to 80% of the Congolese copper and cobalt market. KoBold hopes its technology will let it compete with companies such as Zijin, which shipped its first tons of concentrate in June from a mine adjacent to the American company’s permits.
KoBold has obtained 14 exploration permits covering more than 3,000 square kilometres since 2025, and plans to invest over $50 million by early 2027. It remains at exploration stage, hoping to move into production in a few years.
“We have very encouraging results,” said Benjamin Katabuka, KoBold’s managing director in the DRC, without elaborating.
The investment hasn’t followed
The permits predate a strategic partnership agreement signed between Washington and Kinshasa in December — the economic counterpart to US efforts, so far unsuccessful, to restore peace in the eastern DRC after 30 years of conflict.
“Almost a year since the agreement was signed, but American investment hasn’t poured in,” Katabuka said.
Only one other American company, Virtus Minerals, holds assets in the country. According to mining and diplomatic sources, talks are planned on how to attract US investment into a sector marked by corruption and financial and environmental scandals.
Manono
KoBold has based itself in Manono, a remote town in the southeast near some of the world’s most coveted critical mineral deposits. Its arrival has raised hopes in a region where mining has taken a toll for more than a century.
Vicar general Wilson Katende hopes competition will improve working conditions. “Right now, you don’t feel like people here have been fairly paid,” he said, referring to miners often earning under $200 a month at existing operations.
The poverty rate in the region is 88%. The Lukushi River, which runs through the territory, has been diverted to serve mining operations; elders recall it once teeming with fish and feeding the town.
Manono was founded in the early 20th century around tin production under Belgian colonisers. Falling commodity prices and the turbulence following independence in 1960 left it impoverished.
“Manono lacks drinking water. Manono is not electrified,” territory administrator Cyprien Kitanga told AFP. In the past, he said, mining companies “came, took the ore, and left holes behind for the children of Manono.”
Congolese army soldiers are visible in the town, and Mai-Mai militias have recently been reported in nearby villages.
The lithium discovery has stirred the town, though the local workforce condemns conditions. “We want to go and work for the Americans,” said one man in work clothes who declined to give his name.
That same morning, miners burned tyres at the entrance to Zijin’s mine to protest against low wages and long working days. Zijin told AFP it had “engaged with employee representatives” and agreed measures to address their concerns.
Based on reporting by AFP.
