La bataille sur l'exploitation du Lithium de Manono en province de Tanganyika, opposant la société australienne AVZ Minerals et la société...
www.mediacongo.net
Tanganyika: challenge to government permit authorizing the start of exploitation of Manono Lithium
27.09.2024
Add to Favourites
The battle over the exploitation of Manono Lithium in the province of Tanganyika, between the Australian company AVZ Minerals and the commercial company Manono Lithium SAS, a joint venture between the Chinese Zijin Mining and the public company Cominière, is in any case far from knowing its epilogue. And this, despite the decision of the Congolese government via its Ministry of Mines to grant the operating permit to Manono Lithium SAS. This legal battle, which has been fought on the judicial front for more than two years, between the Australian AVZ and the Congolese authorities, will, to be honest, continue.
Indeed, this government decision announced with great fanfare by the managers of the simplified joint stock company Manono Lithium at a general meeting on Wednesday, September 18, is contested by the Australian multinational AVZ Minerals. The latter made it known its challenge in a press release of September 26, consulted by agenceecofin.com. According to this source, the registered company denounces the obtaining by Manono Lithium SAS of a mining permit that covers an exploration permit that is the subject of a dispute before the International Centre for the Settlement of Different Investments (CIRDI).
According to the same source, Manono Lithium SAS has obtained an operating permit from the Ministry of Mines of the DRC. However, PR 15775 now transformed into an operating permit extends to the northern part of another research permit (PR 13359) on which AVZ believes to retain rights, This media recalls that the company therefore seized in 2023 the CIRDI, a member arbitration institution of the World Bank Group, in 2023 to assert its rights to the project. The CIRDI has then taken various orders since then, imposing on the Congolese authorities to keep AVZ as the owner of PR 13359, pending a decision on the merits of the dispute.
"The transformation of PR15775 into an operating permit would therefore constitute a new violation of the IARC's provisional orders," says the Australian company in proposals relayed by agenceeconfin.com.
Pending the legal follow-up in this case, it should be emphasized that the granting of a mining permit to Manono revives hopes that the DRC will soon join the circle of African lithium producers. For the moment, no details have been communicated by Manono Lithium on the project's schedule, nor its production capacity and the economic impact for the DRC, adds this media.
"This is an important initiative for the DRC and local communities, which will bring jobs, investment and other benefits to the nation and the region [...] We are proud to participate in this project and our goal is to develop it successfully and without delay," Jin Heyuan, CEO of Manono Lithium, simply said in a statement relayed by agenceeconfin.com.