Tom Hunt

Tom is the VP of Technology at Kobold metals, discovering the mineral resources society needs for the transition to clean energy. His team invents new techniques for mineral exploration and builds partnerships with hardware and software startups, research labs, and academics to push the state of the art. 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 six years since founding, KoBold has become one of the largest independent mineral exploration companies and exploration technology developers. Our data scientists and software engineers, who come from leading technology companies, jointly lead exploration programs with our renowned exploration geologists. In addition to KoBold’s flagship Mingomba copper deposit, KoBold has a portfolio of more than 60 other projects, each of which has the potential for another high-quality discovery. Tom previously ran the technology pipeline at Sila Nanotechnologies where he led teams developing revolutionary materials for electric vehicle batteries. Tom spent six years at Google and X managing a portfolio of projects including next generation computation, applied machine learning, underground construction, biotechnology, and climate change reduction. Before Google, Tom spent a decade building startups in energy, biotechnology, and chemistry. He founded a printed solar panel company in 2008. His academic work includes the Miller Fellowship at UC Berkeley, a PhD in Physics from Harvard, and a BS in physics from Stanford. Tom is a named inventor on over a dozen patents and author of ten academic publications.