I'm not sure I understand your comment, this article is specifically about KoBold, a startup which has just received venture funding (semi-recently) from Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. It isn't implying that they owned the mine or were able to build their businesses from the gains from the mining. I assume both of them funded the company because sourcing minerals necessary to transition to renewables is a priority, whether for personal or business reasons.

https://news.crunchbase.com/ai-robotics/cleantech-kobold-bil...