Senior Exploration Geologist

About the company

The mining industry has steadily become worse at finding new ore deposits, requiring >10X more capital to make discoveries compared to 30 years ago. The easy-to-find, near-surface deposits have largely been found, and the industry has chronically under-invested in new exploration technology, relying on the manual techniques of yesteryear – even as demand accelerates for copper, lithium, and other metals to build electric vehicles, renewable energy, and data centers.

KoBold builds AI models for mineral exploration and deploys those models—alongside our novel sensors—to guide decisions on KoBold-owned-and-operated exploration programs. Since our founding in 2018, KoBold has become by far both the largest independent mineral exploration company and the largest exploration technology developer. Our data scientists and software engineers, who come from leading technology companies, jointly lead exploration programs with our renowned exploration geologists.

KoBold has proven its first discovery with materially less capital than the industry average and found one of the best copper deposits ever discovered: the copper is far more concentrated than the global average of copper mines, and this asset alone is expected to generate meaningful revenue for decades. KoBold has a portfolio of more than 80 other projects, each of which has the potential for another high-quality discovery.

KoBold is privately held; investors include institutional asset managers T. Rowe Price and Canada Pension Plan Investments; technology venture capitalists Andreessen Horowitz, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, BOND Capital, Durable Capital, StepStone, and Standard Investments; and strategic natural resources companies BHP and Mitsubishi.

About the position

In this role, you will lead evaluations of potential properties for acquisition, generate targets, and design and oversee field programs from target definition through to resource expansion. You will be part of a multidisciplinary team and will work closely with data scientists, using KoBold’s technology to help guide our field programs and decision-making. You will also work directly with our senior technical advisors and with the executive team on making the investment case for acquisitions and field programs.

Ultimately, your role is to help KoBold make valuable discoveries by identifying opportunities with rigorous evaluation and by ensuring that we safely and effectively conduct our field programs.

Responsibilities

• Demonstrate in all activities a commitment to the highest standards in health and safety, environment, and community relations
• Rigorously analyze geoscientific datasets across a range of scales from provinces to prospects to determine exploration potential and to identify, rank, and prioritize exploration targets
• Design, budget, permit, and execute field programs ranging from geological mapping and sampling of grass roots prospects through to large drilling programs on advanced projects, with leading industry practice in data acquisition and validation
• Provide technical guidance and support to local in-country project teams during the design and execution of exploration programs, including site visits and engagement with other project stakeholders (e.g., community representatives, regulatory authorities, and joint venture partners)
• Work collaboratively with data scientist colleagues to conceive and implement insightful analytical methods

Qualifications

A great Senior Exploration Geologist candidate will have:

• Strong technical knowledge of one or more ore deposit types. Experience working on sediment-hosted stratiform copper or magmatic sulfide deposits will be considered an advantage
• Excellence in generative analysis ranging from new concepts to integration, interpretation, and modeling of large datasets
• Good field skills and experience conducting field programs across a range of project stages from grassroots prospects through to advanced projects with significant drilling campaigns
• Baseline level of proficiency in standard desktop software packages (e.g., ArcGIS or QGIS)
• Strong leadership skills including the ability to motivate and inspire others, to share ownership and responsibility for project outcomes, and to work effectively in collaborative, interdisciplinary teams
• Previous experience in coaching and training geoscientists of varying experience, educational backgrounds and cultures in leading-practice mineral exploration
• Demonstrated commitment to high standards of health and safety in the workplace
• A minimum of 10 years experience in the mineral exploration industry

It is helpful but not required to have:

• Working knowledge of one programming or scripting language (e.g., Python, R, C/C++)
• Knowledge of geostatistics and/or other statistical methods relevant for analysis of geoscientific data
• International experience, particularly in the Central African Copperbelt

Note: Candidates who are specialists in geochemistry or geophysics but open to doing significant project work are encouraged to apply.

What to Expect

Joining KoBold means getting the opportunity for hands-on exposure to our exploration projects around the world. All employees are expected to travel to project sites, with a minimum of one week per year. Field-facing and technical roles spend significantly more time in the field.

KoBold Metals is an equal opportunity workplace and an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity for people of any race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, age, citizenship, disability, or veteran status.

The US base salary range for this full-time exempt position is $110,000-$170,000.

Location: KoBold is a remote-first workplace. All candidates must be legally authorized to work in one of the following countries: United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, United Kingdom, Zambia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia, Finland, Sweden, or Botswana.