View attachment 63135
will it ever end. They don't give a fuck!
Zijin-Cominière joint venture Manono Lithium goes ahead on permit contested by AVZ Minerals
Africa Business+ provides more details.
07/05/2024 at 13h42, by Africa Business+
Manono Lithium is active on exploration permit no. 15775 (PR 15775), located near Manono in the Congolese province of Tanganyika. This joint venture between the Chinese group
Zijin Mining and the Congolese state-owned company
Congolaise d’Exploitation Minière (Cominière) was awarded the lithium-rich concession last October.
Exploration is progressing at full speed in the area: according to the group, all drilling on the first zone planned for extraction has been completed. Zijin claims it will be able to build its future lithium mine on the site within two years, starting as soon as the project’s feasibility study and financing plan has been finalised. The Chinese group, a shareholder in the Kamoa-Kakula copper mine operated by
Ivanhoe Mines in the Lualaba region of the DRC, plans to install a lithium smelter on the site. These operations will be supplied with power by the Mpiana-Mwanga hydroelectric plant, which the joint venture is set to rehabilitate.
Our sources have revealed that Manono Lithium has commenced preparatory work for mining. The company’s teams are currently recruiting day labourers to support the stripping operations on the permit. This involves removing the upper part of the deposit that is not intended for exploitation and manually trenching dirt roads. When contacted, Zijin indicated that the feasibility of building a proper road will be re-examined in the future.
Furthermore, to prepare the site for accommodating more employees by the end of 2023, Manono Lithium has issued two tenders. One tender seeks consultants to assist with geotechnical studies for constructing an administrative camp and a research centre, while the other seeks to identify housing builders.
Although Manono Lithium is progressing on PR 15775, this permit is at the heart of a dispute between Cominière and the Australian company
AVZ Minerals. The permit allocation to Manono Lithium triggered an emergency arbitration request by AVZ before the
International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) at the end of October. AVZ claims rights to the site. AVZ and Cominière have long been partners in
Dathcom Mining, which held rights to another exploration licence, PR 13359. The northeast sector of this concession corresponds to PR 15775. Last year, however, Cominière unilaterally terminated its collaboration with Dathcom Mining and then obtained the registration of PR 13 359 in its sole name through a Congolese court ruling. Cominière then formed a joint venture with Zijin—Manono Lithium—which secured PR 15775.
While AVZ’s lawyers concede that the company gave up the northeast part of PR 13359 when it applied to transfer it to an exploitation permit, they claim that the coordinates of 15775 do not precisely match the area from which it planned to withdraw. In addition, since the exploitation permit was ultimately not awarded to AVZ, they refute the right of another company to operate in this area.
Africa Business+ provides more details.
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