Bill Gates-backed startup confident it can unearth more battery metals

Copper plates on wagons ready for onward shipping at the Mufulira refinery, operated by Mopani Copper Mines Plc, in Mufulira, Zambia, on Friday, May 6, 2022. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images KoBold Metals, a mining startup backed by billionaires including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, is bullish on the discovery potential of some of the most … Read more

Why the U.S. has a serious mining worker shortage

The U.S. is running out of miners. More than half the nation’s mining workforce, about 221,000 workers, is expected to retire by 2029, according to the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration, and the number of candidates willing to fill those slots is shrinking. “Our workforce is aging,” said Bold Baatar, chief executive of copper at … Read more