Midnight Sun Mining Corp (TSX-V:MMA, OTCQB:MDNGF) announced that it has signed an earn-in agreement with KoBold Metals Company through their respective Zambian subsidiaries for exploration at the Dumbwa target at its Solwezi copper project in Zambia.
The company said that KoBold, a US-based, AI-driven battery metal exploration and mining business, can earn a 75% interest in the Dumbwa portion of the project by spending US$15 million in exploration expenses and making cash payments totalling US$500,000 over four and a half years.
"KoBold has assembled one of the top global sediment-hosted copper teams, including Dr. David Broughton, and I cannot overstate how pleased we are to have them at the helm on Dumbwa. Their bench strength speaks to the quality of this outstanding tier-one exploration target and the seriousness of their approach,” Midnight Sun CEO Al Fabbro said in a statement.
“We look forward to KoBold applying their groundbreaking exploration approach to the Dumbwa Target and moving this important Zambian copper asset toward development together, which we view as perfectly timed to coincide with an upcoming phase of unprecedented global copper demand."
KoBold Metals Africa CEO Mfikeyi Makayi added that KoBold was looking forward to exploring the Dumbwa target alongside Midnight Sun as it has long been interested in the Solwezi Dome.
“The Dumbwa Target hosts intriguing copper-in-soil anomalies and a structural setting comparable to other major deposits in the region,” Makayi said.
“The KoBold sediment-hosted copper team has decades of experience working in the African Copperbelt, which we will combine with our library of analytical tools and proprietary technology to aggressively explore at Dumbwa.”
The Dumbwa exploration target is one of four key prospects that make up Midnight Sun’s 5,062-kilometer Solwezi project.
KoBold plans to kick off a drill campaign at Dumbwa in 2024 to begin systematically exploring the structural targets at the prospect.
The remaining 3,982 kilometers of property that make up the Solwezi project will remain with Midnight Sun. The company said it intends to continue exploration activities on the other key prospects outside of the area subject to the Kobold earn-in agreement.
Midnight Sun is focused on exploring its flagship Solwezi project, located in the heart of the Zambia-Congo copperbelt, the second-largest copper-producing region in the world.