Senior Geochemist

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. In the eight years since founding, 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 Role

This role will be KoBold's geochemical lead for southern Africa, reporting to the Principal Geochemist and working as an embedded member of the Mingomba project team.

Mingomba is in deposit definition drilling. The assays generated there flow directly into the resource model and, ultimately, into the investment case for developing the deposit, so you will own the systems that make that data defensible: sampling protocols, quality control design, sample security, laboratory performance, and the documentation trail that stands behind a Competent Person's statement.

You will also drive geochemistry across KoBold's wider Zambian, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Namibian activities, including brownfield and greenfield copper and lithium programs, from first-pass orientation surveys through to drill-ready targets. You will work closely with project geologists, geophysicists, and data scientists, and you will be a key source of geochemical judgement for in-country teams who do not have a specialist of their own.

Responsibilities

• Demonstrate in all activities a commitment to the highest standards in health and safety, environment, and community relations
• Own the geochemical quality control system for the Mingomba deposit definition drilling program, working collaboratively with data scientists and software engineers on: sampling and subsampling protocol design, certified reference material, blank and duplicate insertion strategy, sample security and chain of custody, routine precision and bias monitoring, and prompt investigation and resolution of control failures
• Provide independent assessment and sign-off of assay data entering mineral resource estimation, including laboratory audits, umpire and check-assay programs, inter-laboratory bias monitoring, and defensible documentation of the analytical chain to the standard expected
• Ensure geochemical activity across Zambia, the DRC, and Namibia meets its regulatory and permitting obligations, including sample export and transport requirements, dangerous goods compliance, use of appropriately accredited laboratories, and the environmental baseline, acid rock drainage, and metal leaching characterisation work that supports permitting on advanced projects
• Design and execute brownfield geochemical programs around Mingomba and other advanced assets, using alteration and trace element vectoring to define system footprints, test extensions along strike and at depth, and generate near-mine targets
• Lead greenfield geochemical target generation for copper, lithium, and nickel across the southern African portfolio, including orientation surveys, selection of sampling medium and horizon under deep tropical weathering and transported cover, partial and selective leach method selection, and design of pathfinder suites appropriate to the mineral system being tested
• Rigorously interpret multi-element geochemical datasets from province to prospect scale, applying appropriate treatment of compositional data, multivariate and lithogeochemical methods, and integrate the results with geophysics, geology, and remote sensing to identify, rank, and prioritise targets
• Design, budget, and manage the analytical program across the region, including analytical method selection, laboratory contracting, turnaround performance, and cost control
• Provide technical guidance to in-country project teams, and coach and train field geologists and technicians in leading-practice sampling, including maintaining the standard operating procedures and field documentation that let good practice scale without a geochemist on every site
• Work collaboratively with data scientist colleagues to make geochemical data analysis-ready and to conceive and implement insightful analytical methods

Qualifications

A great Senior Geochemist candidate will have:

• Strong technical command of exploration and deposit-scale geochemistry, with a demonstrated ability to take a program from sampling design through quality control to interpretation and target ranking. 
• Experience with sediment-hosted stratiform copper, magmatic sulfide, or LCT pegmatite systems will be considered an advantage
• Deep practical experience of quality control for drilling and surface sampling programs, including reference material and duplicate design, control charting, precision and bias assessment, and a track record of resolving analytical problems with commercial laboratories
• Working knowledge of the Theory of Sampling and its practical application to sample support, subsampling, and preparation protocols
• Experience supporting resource-stage projects, and familiarity with the data quality expectations that attach to public reporting of mineral resources
• Excellence in generative analysis, from new concepts through to the integration, interpretation, and modeling of large multi-element datasets
• Strong communication skills, both written and presentation skills.
• Good field skills and experience conducting sampling campaigns in remote settings and 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) and in at least one dedicated geochemical data analysis package (e.g., ioGAS)
• 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 8 years’ experience in the mineral exploration industry
• Intellectual curiosity and eagerness to learn about all aspects of mineral exploration, particularly in the geology domain. Enjoys constantly learning such that you are driving insights through using our tools in exploration and willing to work directly with geologists in the field.
• Ability to explain technical problems to and collaborate on solutions with domain experts who are not Geoscientists. A strong communicator who enjoys working with colleagues across the company.
• Excitement about joining a fast-growing early-stage company, comfort with a dynamic work environment, and eagerness to take on an evolving range of responsibilities.
• Keen not just to build cool technology, but to figure out what technical product to build to best achieve the business objectives of the company.
• A valid passport and willingness to travel outside of Mingomba to laboratories and exploration sites in southern Africa or around the world. Travel for this role typically does not exceed four trips per year if based at Mingomba. 

It is helpful but not required to have:

• Working knowledge of one programming or scripting language (e.g., Python, R) applied to geochemical data
• Knowledge of geostatistics, compositional data analysis, or other statistical methods relevant for analysis of geoscientific data
• Experience with portable XRF and in-field sample preparation as auditable, fit-for-purpose analytical capability
• Experience in environmental geochemistry, including baseline surveys and waste and tailings characterisation
• International experience, particularly in the Central African Copperbelt, or in the pegmatite provinces of central Africa and Namibia
• Professional registration or chartership (e.g., CGeol, FAusIMM, EurGeol, SACNASP)
• Working proficiency in French 

Note: Candidates whose background is in exploration geology with a strong geochemical specialisation, and who want to work as a geochemist across a global portfolio rather than a single project, are encouraged to apply.

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

We are committed to equal employment opportunities for all people.

This position is a full-time contract.

At this time, we are only accepting applications from southern Africa.

Location: Zambia

Please submit your application to: https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/zambold 

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.