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Perth-based AVZ Minerals’ Congo lithium hopes hinge on US envoy’s talks
Brad Thompson
Congolese police officers line up for redeployment following an enrolment of civilians. Picture: AFP
US special envoy Massad Boulos is due to arrive in the Democratic Republic of Congo for talks crucial to an Australian minerals company’s hope of regaining control and then on-selling a disputed lithium project now in the sights of Rio Tinto.
AVZ Minerals, whose shares were delisted in 2024, has its own representative heading to Kinshasa based on apparent US support for its claim over the disputed Manono lithium project. The Perth-based company has been exploring selling its Manono interest to KoBold Metals, whose backers include billionaires Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.
Mr Boulos, the father-in-law of US President Donald Trump’s daughter Tiffany and his adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs, is set to arrive in Kinshasa on Monday, in hopes of striking a critical minerals pact with the DRC in return for security.
Dr Massad Boulos is due to conduct talks in the DRC’s capital, Kinshasa. Picture: Getty Images
The move risks antagonising China, which has a significant mining presence in the DRC.
AVZ and KoBold representatives want to nail down a deal on the future of the southern portion of the Manono deposit from the talks starting on Tuesday. If all goes well, AVZ could on-sell the Manono interest for up to
$US1.5bn ($2.38bn) plus a royalty. But there is no assurance of any outcome, favourable or otherwise.
A deal will depend on the US standing up for AVZ’s legal claim over Manono, which AVZ has separately tried to assert through international justice. It is understood California-based KoBold wants to see AVZ “appropriately compensated” for Manono.
KoBold chief executive Kurt House is expected to meet both President Felix Tshisekedi and Mr Boulos in Kinshasa.
The Australian broke the news of Washington’s unlikely advocacy for AVZ, whose DRC asset has been compared to the world-leading Greenbushes lithium mine in WA.
AVZ maintains it has rights to all of Manono even though the DRC has split the licence and allowed Chinese mining giant Zijin to forge ahead with development in the northern half.
Manono boasts an 842 million tonne resource at 1.61 per cent lithium oxide and is split into two geographically distinct northern and southern deposits. The southern part alone, sometimes referred to as Roche Dure, holds a 669 million tonne resource.
The US has indicated it is willing to back AVZ retrieving the southern licence to minimise antagonising China.
KoBold first cast its eye over the southern part of the deposit last October. It was invited to assess the disputed project by DRC-owned mining company Cominiere, which is involved in a legal battle over the asset with AVZ.
Rio, which is betting big on lithium, has since had talks with the DRC about the future of Manono and there is speculation it could join forces with KoBold in any development.
AVZ was valued at $4.6bn before a dispute over the Manono licence destroyed its fortunes. It maintains the DRC acted illegally by taking over its permit spanning the whole of Manono and then awarding the northern portion to a Zijin subsidiary in September 2023.
AVZ broke its silence on the talks with KoBold this month after scoring a legal victory in its battle with the DRC and Zijin.
An international arbitration court in Paris ordered Cominiere to pay AVZ a penalty of €39.12m ($67m) plus interest in the bitter dispute. The ICC awarded the penalty against Cominiere because it ignored previous emergency orders.
The US wants any sale by AVZ to not be complicated by residual links to China’s CATL – the world’s biggest electric vehicle battery manufacturer, which in January provided $20m in funding to AVZ to help the company finance the legal battle for Manono. It is understood both the US and KoBold favour a change of ownership based on the DRC and AVZ discontinuing legal action.
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