Gates-backed firm fights for DRC’s mineral data in exchange for more investments

The dispute between the US mining firm, Kobold Metals, backed by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which was founded by Bill Gates, and Belgium’s AfricaMuseum over the digitization of colonial-era maps of what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo may be intensifying.

• KoBold Metals, backed by Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures, is looking to gain access to colonial-era maps of the DRC held by Belgium’s AfricaMuseum for mineral exploration.
• AfricaMuseum refuses to give KoBold control, emphasizing that management of public scientific collections cannot be delegated to private firms.
• KoBold argues that it has agreed with DRC to make all digitized data of the map publicly accessible.
• Belgium asserts sovereignty over the records until its digitization is complete, with the eventual goal of sharing data with the DRC government.

KoBold Metals, a California-based company that raised $537 million in January 2025 to expand its exploration of critical minerals, is looking to collaborate with the DRC government to access tons of records held in Belgium’s Royal Museum for Central Africa (AfricaMuseum).

These records, created during the colonial era, are regarded as pivotal for tracking critical minerals in the region and their exploitation.

“We scan, we digitise the documents, and ​make them accessible to the public immediately,” Benjamin Katabuka, Director General for KoBold Metals in DRC, told Reuters.

“This country needs ​more investment in exploration, and we need the data to be available to the public to make that ⁠happen.”

However, the mining company has encountered an obstacle in the form of the AfricaMuseum, which also intends to digitize the historical asset.

“We cannot delegate the management of collections to private companies; it would go against all scientific and institutional ethics,” ​museum director Bart Ouvry also told Reuters.

KoBold intends to assist the DRC with digitizing the collection, which spans approximately 500 metres of museum shelves and includes precise records of how the country’s mineral wealth was previously surveyed and exploited.

DON’T MISS THIS: A Jeff Bezos- and Bill Gates-backed metals company has discovered a massive copper reserve in Zambia

However, AfricaMuseum, which is backed by Belgian officials, has refused to hand over the original records, claiming an ongoing project to digitize the archives in collaboration with Congo’s National Geological Service and funded by the European Union.

According to museum authorities, the process could take up to five years, after which the data will be accessible in both Belgium and the Democratic Republic of the Congo under Belgian and European law.

Belgium’s argument against Kobold

An earlier report showed that Vanessa Matz, Belgium’s Science Policy Minister, highlighted that Brussels retains sovereignty of the records until digitisation is complete, urging that the country’s legal and procedural procedures be followed.

She pointed out that archives are expressly excluded from the 2022 Belgian law requiring the return of colonial-era holdings.

A team of scientists began working on the digitisation in February 2026, with archivists expected to follow in March, although officials caution that classifying and fully digitizing the collection may take many years before it is readily available.

KoBold, on the other hand, says that it was engaged by the DRC to aid as a technical support provider.

The museum has rejected the proposal, warning that allowing a single private corporation control the process will result in an unfair financial advantage and a conflict with the institution’s public scientific mission.

However, Kobold notes that per an agreement the company signed with DRC, all digitized data is to be made publicly accessible, and states as a primary purpose the publication of available information for general public access.

Essentially, exclusive or private access for KoBold is not permitted under the agreement.

Note: An earlier version of this article contained ommited some information regarding certain details about KoBold Metals. These have now been corrected to reflect updated information.