California-based mineral exploration company KoBold Metals says it has signed a joint venture agreement with Bluejay Mining to search in Greenland for nickel, cobalt, copper and platinum used in electric vehicles, Kallanish reports.

KoBold, backed by US billionaires Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates and the UK’s Richard Branson, will pay $15 million in exploration funding for the Disko-Nuussuaq project on Greenland’s west coast in exchange for a 51% stake in the project. The funding will cover project evaluation and initial drilling. The company relies heavily on artificial intelligence and machine learning to hunt for raw materials.

KoBold must complete a two-step earn-in phase. It will provide up to $3.4m by 31 December 2022 to refine drill targets and it will pay $11.6m for drilling 15 drill hole by 31 December 2024.

Bluejay can maintain a 49% stake in the project through proportionate funding after KoBold has paid for the targeting and drilling and will manage the field operations.

London-based Bluejay says that previous studies found the Disko-Nuussuaq project is similar to Russia’s Norilsk area as a key producer of nickel and palladium (a member of the platinum family). The area covers about 2,897 square kilometres in west-central Greenland. It has identified more than 20 drill-ready targets including seven large conductive targets.

KoBold is a privately held company with headquarters in Berkeley, California. Its principal investors include Breakthrough Energy Ventures , a climate and technology fund backed by Microsoft co-founder Gates, Bloomberg founder Michael Bloomberg, Amazon founder Bezos, Ray Dallo, founder of hedge fund Bridgewater Associates and Branson. Other KoBold investors include California venture capital fund Andreessen Horowitz and Norwegian state energy company Equinor.

“The Disko region has seen the rare convergence of events in earth’s history that could have resulted in forming a world-class battery metal deposit,” says KoBold ceo Kurt House in a statement. KoBold’s technology is “perfectly suited to discovering new resources at Disko,” he adds.

“This agreement is transformative for Bluejay,” says ceo Bo Steensgaard in a statement. “We are delighted to have a partner at the pinnacle of technical innovation for the new exploration methods, backed by some of the most successful investors in the world…KoBold is an organization with the heft and technical capability to grow this project to its full commercial potential.” His company has other metals projects in Greenland.

Last year, KoBold acquired rights to an area of 1,000 square km in northern Quebec near Glencore’s Raglan nickel mine. The company is especially interested in cobalt.