LONDON – Mineral explorer KoBold Metals, backed by billionaires Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, has launched a lithium exploration campaign in Democratic Republic of Congo, committing more than $50-million by early 2027, it said on Monday.

The United States has prioritized Congo in its drive to stockpile critical minerals as it tries to diminish China's commanding position in the global mineral supply market.

The country is the world's top cobalt producer and Africa's largest copper supplier, with vast but largely unexplored lithium reserves, making it a key plank in global supply chains for electric vehicles and the clean energy transition. The US established a formal agreement with Congo's government last year.

KoBold, an AI‑driven miner already active in copper exploration in Zambia, said the lithium exploration programme spans 13 exploration licences and involves airborne surveys across 30 000 square km (18,640 square miles), extensive drilling and large‑scale geochemical sampling, with lithium the primary target.

The company has already paid more than $20-million to Congo's treasury, making it the largest new exploration investor in the central African nation in recent years, KoBold chief executive Kurt House said.

"A year ago, KoBold had no employees and no land in Congo," House said in a statement. "Today we are the largest American investor in the country, launching the most ambitious mineral exploration programme ever attempted."

The campaign centres on the Manono region of Tanganyika province, home to some of the world's highest‑grade lithium pegmatites and is expected to expand KoBold's licence footprint to about 5 000 square km by year-end.

Australia‑based AVZ Minerals is in international arbitration over rights to the Manono block, saying a July agreement between the Congolese government and KoBold breaches an existing order. 

Reuters previously reported that China's Zijin will start Congo's first lithium production in June in the northeastern part of Manono.

KoBold is using proprietary airborne sensors, real-time AI-updated drilling targets and a mobile laboratory to accelerate exploration.