Gates-backed miner says China is frustrating DR Congo exploration efforts

KoBold Metals, the AI-driven mineral exploration company backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, which raised $291mn this year at a $4bn valuation, has asked the US government for help with its $50mn lithium exploration programme in DR Congo. Its aerial survey technology, a plane equipped with a tensor gravity gradiometer, needs a UN Security Council arms-embargo exemption because it has potential military uses, including submarine navigation and stealth detection. In a September letter to the State Department seen by the FT, KoBold wrote: 'We are concerned that China is using a UN arms embargo process to obstruct legitimate American commercial activity in the DR Congo', and warned 'if it stalls, we lose the dry-season flying window and another year'. In recent weeks the State Department submitted a request to the UN for a KoBold contractor to bring in the technology for civilian use; no exemption has been approved, and a spokesperson called on the UN sanctions committee to work cooperatively. KoBold holds 14 licences in DR Congo, and Kinshasa agreed last year to give US buyers preferential treatment for state miners' output. Caveats: the allegation comes from KoBold's own correspondence, which says 'we understand that China has signalled it may block it', not a confirmed block; KoBold declined to comment and China's foreign ministry did not respond.