Exploration Geologist
KoBold Metals is a mineral exploration company using AI to explore for the metals we need for our transition to a low-carbon economy. KoBold’s business is discovering, defining, expanding, and developing mineral resources, and KoBold’s objective is to achieve a step-change improvement in exploration success: we aim to discover more tier 1 resources, faster, and with fewer failures.
KoBold has a global portfolio of more than 50 exploration properties targeting nickel, copper, cobalt, and lithium, which range from 100%-owned to partnerships with both majors, junior explorers, and prospectors.
Our team includes the best of the industry in exploration geoscience, data science, software engineering, operations, and business personnel. Prior to joining KoBold, KoBold team members have made nearly 20 discoveries. Our exploration programs are co-led by our geoscientists and data scientists, who develop exploration hypotheses, rigorously quantify uncertainty in our understanding of the subsurface, and design data collection programs that most effectively reduce uncertainty, drawing upon a large suite of proprietary exploration technology built by our data scientists and software engineers. Our field programs validate and improve the system and have demonstrated material improvements over conventional exploration methods
KoBold is privately held and our investors include: institutional asset managers T. Rowe Rice and Canada Pension Plan Investments; technology venture capitalists Andreessen Horowitz, Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures, BOND Capital, Standard Investments, and Sam Altman’s Apollo Projects; and leading natural resources companies Equinor, Mitsubishi, and BHP.
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
- B.Sc. degree in geology or related geoscience field
It is helpful but not required to have:
- A Ph.D. or M.Sc. degree
- 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.
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-$150,000.
Location: KoBold is a remote first workplace, we are open to candidates currently residing anywhere in the United States or Canada. All candidates must be authorized to legally work in either the United States for Canada