5 board members attended: John Clarke (chair), Nigel, Graeme, Rhett, Ben.
About 50 people attended, no or very few suits.
Pretty calm/quiet atmosphere.
One of the MMGA lawyers (the one in the far left in that recently posted photo) was there in casual dress. I didn't spot Carrick, Ludbrook or Hjulich or those other two big lawyers from last time.
2-3 DLA Piper folks sat in the front row but not on stage. Their main guy was the same one from last AGM I think. He was holding a big wad of answers, kind of like last time but the board didn't have them, and Nigel was speaking freely rather than reading responses.
Start of meeting
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JC mumbled and bumbled his way through the initial proceedings and gave a brief initial address:
- Continuing to pursue confirmation of the 13359 title.
- Locke funding secured
- Audit in progress and will be made available
- Special thanks to DLAPiper for their work
Voting
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Both resolutions (Rhett Brans and Salome Sijaona) passed with about same number of votes for each - around 650M for, 50M against.
Business concluded
Overview & update (NF)
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- Won't be talking technical stuff, just legal & arbitration
- Locke finding gets us what we need to get through arbitration
- DLA Piper have done the budget for the legal campaign
- Money covers arbitration legal cost, experts fees, etc
- Acknowledged that it was a tough deal but explained that Locke want a decent return for their risk but maintained that it's a small price for AVZ to pay when compared to the potential return
- Exact repayment amount depends on level of draw down and time (there's some kind of time multiplier)
- Board's objective is to get the value out ASAP (NF referred to this several times throughout)
- 60m shares from ATM will go to Locke ASAP
- ICSID: we're in the box seat and have been getting minor wins
- ICC (Dathcom JV): hearing next week; have been winning 99% of matters so far
- ICC (Jin Cheng): pushing hard
- ICC (Dathomir 15%): has been movement recently; pushing hard; Locke funding gives us more' bump'
Expressed desire to talk about geology. "The deposit is still there."
Summarised with the need to get the funding and maximise the return through whatever avenue will most likely deliver value to shareholders.
Questions
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When can we expect to re list?
- lot of legal action to go before that
- expects legal proceedings to end 2026/2027 (I was a bit surprised by the 27 bit, given Locke conditions)
- could also play out with DLA Piper enforcing penalties
- or could get the licence
- it will be 6-12 months at least (I didn't really follow this answer, seemed all over the place)
Have there been any off market transfers of shares?
- have seen some go through
- not large amounts
- appears to be same entity transferring to itself(?)
What is the current valuation of the asset?
-[slight exasperation from NF] anywhere from $2.5 - 10B (unclear if that was USD)
What is our strategy: mining or takeover?
- "let me put the same question to you?"
[when pressed NF continued]
- Not worried about Zijin, only a small part of government is in with Zijin
- talk of a bad relationship with the government is rubbish
- if we put this into production it's going to be another 18 months of waiting (NF's tone seemed to be "is that what you really want?")
- JC interjected at this point and said in his opinion, focusing on building the mine would deliver best value (interesting difference of opinion, expressed openly; this was the only time any of the other board spoke during Q&A I think)
Status of the 20m escrow account?
- AVZ has filed a complaint
- They have no access to the account
- Status of account is unknown
Kobold's visit to Manono?
- Done without AVZ's permission
- No-one accessed AVZ's core samples
- They weren't weren't with us
- They weren't on our site
How is the relationship with the DRC government?
- it's not all of the DRC government making trouble
- MoM has been misled; with the funding it will be clear that AVZ isn't falling over
- Funding means we have a bigger stick
- the president now has a problem: either AVZ litigates or Zijin does (implication here seemed to be 'negotiate')
- AVZ's remaining portion of the subdivided 13359 holds 95% of the DFS value with a life of 50-100years
- MoM must now come to the table and talk
What is the company valuation now?
- can't put a value on it right now
ICSID outstanding payment?
- Neither side has paid
- AVZ can now sort it out ASAP with Locke funds
Travel to DRC
(I thought both NF and BC looked a bit uncomfortable/sheepish)
- not as often as we'd like to
- needed to save money
- visited "about twice" in 2024
Status of local Fat Tail case ?
- still in discovery
What is the overall objective of the ICSID action?
- we'll show the DRC we're not going away; aim is to negotiate
- otherwise will enforce penalties; we have an expert in NYC preparing for this avenue
- expect a domino effect with the various cases
Can we be confident of working in the DRC if we get the PE?
- If government has the confidence to grant us the PE they will be confident of working with us
- tax and community benefits
- it's only a small obstructive group working against us
Are we looking at raising further funds?
- yes
- if you want to contribute, contact AVZ admin and they will send paperwork
Is the US government aware of the situation?
- yes. Kamala Harris in particular
- Ambassador and a "group in Texas" (huh?) are also onto it
What about Australian government?
- "I'm not going to answer that one"
- they're ambivalent
- joked about the WA government's assistance for lithium miners: where's ours?
End of meeting
I was left with the distinct impression that Nigel is looking for a quick end to this in a way that provides a decent return to shareholders. It was a recurring theme; those references were peppered throughout. I don't think he wants to go mining.