Exploration Geologist

About the company:

In the coming decades, our world needs far more critical minerals including copper, lithium, and cobalt, to build electric infrastructure, vehicles, data centers, and electronics. The mining industry is making 10x fewer discoveries per dollar spent on exploration compared to 30 years ago because the easy-to-find, near surface deposits have largely been discovered.

KoBold is the leading scientific mineral exploration, mine development, and technology development company. Our goal is to turn mineral exploration into a repeatable science to discover the minerals the world needs—by integrating artificial intelligence, human intelligence, and new technology. Our multidisciplinary teams of data scientists, engineers, and geologists work together to build data systems, design new sensors, and establish industry-leading workflows to develop and test subsurface predictions on our exploration projects.

Our first discovery, Mingomba, is a high-grade copper deposit in Zambia, found after spending materially less than industry average. We are developing Mingomba with the same technical rigor that we apply to exploration. The Mingomba team brings together mine and processing engineers, geologists, data scientists, software engineers, and community, health & safety, construction, and operations specialists. By combining industry knowledge and cutting edge technology, we are developing Mingomba into a world class project that has safer and more predictable outcomes for ourselves, partners, and communities. It is expected to create thousands of good jobs for generations.

KoBold runs exploration programs in eight countries, all with the potential for another 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

Zambold is looking for highly motivated and experienced Exploration Geologists who will be part of our multidisciplinary exploration team. In this role, you will be part of the core team responsible for planning and conducting exploration programs on our properties. You will help develop targets and plans to test them. You will oversee drilling, data collection on drill core, and other field activities from soil sampling to geophysical surveys. You will help design and implement our proprietary software tools to gain insights from these geoscience data and guide exploration programs in real-time. As part of this process, you will work closely with both geologists and data scientists in Zambia and around the world.

Responsibilities

The Exploration Geologist will:

Have a working knowledge of sediment-hosted copper deposits

Be responsible for geological drill core/chip logging and mapping

Be responsible for sampling and geotechnical drill core logging

Handle day-to-day management of drilling and sampling campaigns

Perform a range of geological analyses to generate and refine targets and geologic models resulting from the data collection programs

Be able to work remotely depending on location of active projects

Work collaboratively with data scientists to get field data into our proprietary system and to produce and act upon insights from our models in geologic context

Qualifications

A great Exploration Geologist candidate will have:

A Bachelor’s degree in Geology

5 years of relevant experience in exploration geology or economic geology

Experience with various drill core procedures and processes, including core logging and sampling

Experience with drill rig supervision

An strong desire to learn about geologic fundamentals, ore systems, and mineral exploration

Strong intellectual curiosity

Good computer skills including working knowledge of GIS and Microsoft Excel

It is preferred but not required to have:

Exposure GIS and 3D modeling softwares, such as QGIS/ArcGIS, Leapfrog, Python, and/or ioGAS

A valid driver’s license

We are committed to equal employment opportunities for all people.

This position is a full-time contract role.

At this time we are only accepting applications from Zambian nationals.

Location: Residential 5:2 (i.e., five days on, two days off) based in Northern Copperbelt (i.e., Chingola or Chililabombwe). Fly-in fly-out considered for exceptional candidates.

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.