KoBold Agrees to Acquire AVZ's Manono Interests

This deal shows KoBold is moving from finding ore to securing control of a potential flagship lithium district. Manono is not just another target area, it is one of the biggest known hard rock lithium deposits, and buying AVZ’s position would give KoBold a shortcut into a world scale battery material project while also testing whether its AI led exploration model can create value in a politically and legally complex asset, not only in greenfield copper search.

• The practical attraction is speed. Instead of starting with early stage mapping and years of drilling, KoBold would step into a deposit that had already been advanced by AVZ, then use its own exploration program to expand resources around Manono and build a broader lithium land position in the DRC.
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• The catch is title complexity. AVZ’s rights at Manono have been tied up in disputes with the DRC, Cominière, and Zijin linked interests, so this is as much a legal and sovereign access transaction as a geology transaction. The framework was presented as conditional, not a clean transfer of a settled asset.
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• This also sharpens the contrast with downstream players like Redwood Materials. Redwood makes money by collecting used batteries and scrap, recovering lithium and other metals, and reselling refined materials. KoBold is moving further upstream, trying to own the mine level feedstock that recyclers and battery makers eventually need.
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If KoBold closes and de risks Manono, it gains a second major development platform beyond copper and becomes a more direct participant in the battery supply chain. The next phase is likely a blend of arbitration progress, permit clarity, and aggressive district scale drilling that turns Manono from a disputed deposit into a controlled lithium hub.