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(Alliance News) - Bluejay Mining PLC on Monday announced a joint venture agreement with mineral exploration company KoBold Metals to explore the Disko-Nuussuaq project in Greenland.
Bluejay shares surged 26% to 11.78 pence each in London on Monday morning.
KoBold focuses on exploring for minerals used in the manufacturing of electric vehicles, while Bluejay Mining is an exploration and development company with projects in Greenland and Finland.
The Disko project is located in central west Greenland, and houses deposits of nickel, copper, cobalt and platinum.
Bluejay Chief Executive Bo Stensgaard said: "This agreement is transformative for Bluejay. We are delighted to have a partner at the pinnacle of technical innovation for new exploration methods, backed by some of the most successful investors in the world."
Principal investors in KoBold include Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a climate & technology fund overseen by Bill Gates, and whose investors include Michael Bloomberg, Jeff Bezos, and Ray Dalio. Other investors in KoBold include Andreessen Horowitz, a Silicon Valley venture capital fund and Equinor ASA, the Norwegian state-owned multinational energy company.
KoBold uses machine learning to guide its exploration activities.
Under the terms of the agreement, KoBold can earn 51% of Disko through a two-stage earn-in, while Bluejay will be able to maintain a 49% interest through proportionate funding of the project and will manage field operations.
"Additionally, Bluejay retains the ability to self-fund to maintain a 49% ownership through to production, providing external public investors with the opportunity of investing alongside a private investment entity of this magnitude," Stensgaard added.
The Disko project is hosted within the west Greenland tertiary igneous province, which is a "well-recognised geological analogue" to the Siberian Flood Basalts of the Noril'sk region in Russia. The total value of the ores in the Norilsk district off of 2020 metal prices is USD1.4 trillion, the company noted.
By Greg Roxburgh; gregroxburgh@alliancenews.com
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