I'm not taking this a dis against AVZ . They may want somethings to remain confidential . AVZ is a contentious issue with certain DRC high ranking criminals . Better to keep cards close to the chest .
AVZ Discussion 2022
- Thread starter GazDix
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Frank
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I guess it’s good that these big western companies are sniffing around DRC but I can’t shake the feeling they are trying to back door their way into Manono. I wonder how involved Nigel and Co. are in any of these discussions if at all?
This is why the court cases are crucial. Wonder if CATH sniffed these latest developments out and in the reason they ponied up? It still keeps them in the game for a purchase of AVZ if there were western/DRC discussions in the background? If AVZ went insolvent or couldn’t fight the good chase I wonder if kobold made their move to acquire the tenement for nothing for “defence” via the USA.
This is why the court cases are crucial. Wonder if CATH sniffed these latest developments out and in the reason they ponied up? It still keeps them in the game for a purchase of AVZ if there were western/DRC discussions in the background? If AVZ went insolvent or couldn’t fight the good chase I wonder if kobold made their move to acquire the tenement for nothing for “defence” via the USA.
Didn't Cominière get pinged by the ICC for talking too much?
Fools!
I wonder how ckk is sleeping, escaping to a condo in the west is not an option unless he gets a new face and haircut.
Maybe a cosy place in Kigali, nobody expects him to pop up there.
I would say CATH (CATL) is not silly and more aware about what is going on than we are.
We only have to look how CATH swung into action (against state owned Zijin) to try to gain access to high quality SC6 from RD.
When will we find out what is going on behind the scene?
Probably when the AVZ BoD gets the advice to pull the trigger.
They highly likely are getting advice (not only from CATH, but also from their legal advisors).
They would not want to piss the ICSID off, something were the DRC has shown to be masters of.
(Only have to look at the reaction from ICC towards Cominière).
The DRC might want to try to throw a spanner in the gearbox again.
They did show their cards before by not paying court fees.
Probably walked into a fist.
Vert interesting to learn about the internal market dynamics for lithium in China.
But as far as CATH is concerned I'm not sure that's gonna factor in for them? They have already made it clear they want the output, whether through offtake or otherwise. Could be that for them the restrictions in China are less a consideration because 1. well they just need so damn much, but 2. CATH looking to expand production to new plants outside of China so maybe not subject to those same restrictions?
The thing I've been speculating about lately with re to CATH is about how they'll counter the growing American interest. I fully expect them to make an offer,
..but thinking about it more it occurs to me that the possibility of this course of events has long ago occurred to CATH, and I would assume they would ALREADY have considered what the project would be worth to them if they were to try and buy it outright. So IMO CATH maybe surprised by this action maybe not, but already sitting on contingency plans.
There's been some speculation that offers to take over the project could be part cash part scrip (new term to me, hope I'm using it right?), I wonder if CATH comes in and makes a better offer to AVZ along similar structure to our current deal, but on terms that value the project properly not at the 'we're bailing you out' discount rate, and including throwing in a stake in the processing plant.
I know a lot of holders (me included) would be happy to just take a big payout and get as far from this clusterfuk as possible, but if CATH counterd an upfront cash takeover from US with a cash takeover AND ownership stake that allows significantly more long-term value on earnings from processesing, that would definitely give the board interesting choices.
But then again, a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush, or in DRC, 3 in the paper bag...
Mute22
Regular
Anybody have a sub to The Australian?
Actual journalists who know how to write a headline.
Actual journalists who know how to write a headline.
A Way Out of the DRC’s Proxy War
by Sasha Lezhnev and John PrendergastMarch 28, 2025
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Africa, Armed Conflicts, Armed Groups, Child Soldiers, conflict minerals, Corruption, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Diplomacy, Europe, European Union, humanitarian assistance, Humanitarian Intervention, Marco Rubio, Military, militias, Rwanda, sanctions, trade, Trump administration second term, United Arab Emirates (UAE)In a recent court decision regarding a gold dealer sanctioned for contributing to conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the judge referenced Milton’s Paradise Lost, recounting that once the rebel angel Mammon had fallen to earth, he dispatched “his crew” of fallen angels to “dig out ribs of gold.” Today, ribs of gold and other essential treasures are a major driver of one of the deadliest wars in the world.
A full-scale cross-border invasion has been unfolding in an oft-ignored corner of the world, but one with important U.S. and European interests at stake, given the humanitarian toll and gold and other minerals that play a key role in the conflict. Rwandan-backed M23 rebels and as many as 12,000 of Rwanda’s own troops have fueled what is now one of the three most acute humanitarian crises in the world, with 6.5 million people displaced, as they have conquered the two largest cities in eastern DRC, Goma and Bukavu. Additionally, Rwanda is jeopardizing the global supply of some of the minerals by restarting a war in the DRC that threatens to expand beyond the east. For its part, the DRC government endangers the supply of these minerals through corruption that mainly favors China.
President Donald Trump has called the conflict “a very serious problem,” and his administration has sanctioned an influential Rwandan government minister, as well as the M23 spokesperson and two of his companies, following warnings by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to the Rwandan and DRC presidents. Several European countries have suspended aid, as well. Earlier this month, Trump tapped businessman Massad Boulos, his daughter Tiffany’s father-in-law, as an envoy to Africa’s Great Lakes region.
Rwanda asserts that the Congolese Tutsi population is at risk and that the remnants of the militia that committed the 1994 Rwandan genocide, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) are an existential threat, but the reality behind Rwanda’s invasion is more complicated. Among other factors, Rwanda and its proxy militias have been extracting, smuggling, and exporting hundreds of millions of dollars of illicit conflict gold and critical minerals from the DRC for nearly three decades. These exports have only increased since its latest invasion alongside the M23.
Critical minerals of interest to the United States and Europe are at stake, as the DRC contains one of the world’s largest concentrations of tantalum, cobalt, copper, and tin used in smartphones, electric vehicles, and a variety of other products. The DRC is the world’s largest producer of cobalt (accounting for more than 75 percent of global production) and tantalum (more than 40 percent). Rwanda has smaller reserves of tantalum, tin, and tungsten, but it reportedly exports far more than it produces, including Congolese minerals.
The illicit gold trade from eastern DRC is key. Gold is a chief source of revenue for armed groups, who “have increasingly fought for control of gold mines,” a U.S. government watchdog said recently. The DRC government set up a de facto gold trading monopoly in 2022 that U.N. experts said “highly” possibly was “permeated by gold produced from sites which remain under the control of armed groups,” but had cut out Rwanda. In response, M23 took over gold mines, and Rwanda set up its own new refinery and exported a record $885 million worth of gold in 2023, despite having virtually no domestic gold mines. Uganda, which has also supported M23 to a lesser extent, also exported a record $3.4 billion worth of gold in 2024, including significant amounts from eastern DRC. All of the gold flows to the United Arab Emirates.
Rwanda is also profiting from critical minerals from the conflict zone. According to a December 2024 U.N. investigative report, M23 captured one of the world’s largest coltan mines (tantalum is extracted from coltan) in April 2024, and then ensured a monopoly for the export of tantalum from that mine to Rwanda, which then re-exports it.
Recent Escalation Was Preventable
The escalation of the conflict since this January was entirely preventable. After an eight-year hiatus, Rwanda relaunched the M23 in 2021, and the Rwandan army and its proxy have been wreaking havoc since then. There are more than 100 other smaller armed groups in the DRC, but none of them are remotely as powerful as the M23 and don’t have the massive backing of a neighboring State. A host of mediators and peacekeeping forces also failed to prevent the escalation.Facing little to no accountability and buoyed by a controversial European Union minerals export deal signed in February 2024, Rwanda has gradually increased its support for the M23. A U.N. investigative report in June 2024 noted that the M23 abducted children as young as 12 to become child soldiers, and the above-referenced December U.N. follow-up report stated that the M23’s commanding general “continued to receive instructions and support from [Rwandan Defense Forces] RDF and Rwandan intelligence.” The investigators also determined that “every M23 unit was supervised and supported by RDF special forces.” The United States continues to call on Rwanda to withdraw its troops; Rwanda denies that its troops are present.
On the other side of the conflict, the DRC army continues to collaborate with an armed group that includes leaders and militia involved in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, the FDLR. The FDLR and allied “Wazalendo” militias have extensively abused human rights in eastern DRC and profited from conflict gold.
Meanwhile, corruption is worsening in the DRC, whose international corruption rating is lower under President Felix Tshisekedi, who has been in office since 2019, than his predecessor Joseph Kabila. In 2022, a top Tshisekedi advisor was caught on tape requesting a large bribe for a mining deal, and last year, several ministers resigned over alleged corruption. Furthermore, the government has lobbied the United States on behalf of mining magnate Dan Gertler, who was sanctioned after he “amassed his fortune through hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of opaque and corrupt mining and oil deals in the [DRC].” Moreover, repression remains very high under Tshisekedi’s regime, with increasing crackdowns on activists, journalists, and protestors.
Irresponsible Western Dealmaking
Noting Trump’s bid for Ukraine’s critical mineral wealth, Tshisekedi has proposed deals with the United States and Europe for access to DRC’s minerals in exchange for their support in ending Rwanda’s invasion of eastern DRC.Three possible deals emerge from this scenario. The first would be a U.S.-DRC deal that would give U.S. companies stakes in strategic cobalt and copper mines, allow Rwanda/M23 to control parts of eastern DRC, and leave Tshisekedi in power. A second option would be a nontransparent deal to allow the U.S. extensive access to Congolese minerals and force Rwanda to leave. A third possibility would be Rwanda toppling Tshisekedi and striking its own minerals deal with the United States, Europe, and others.
All these deals would be bad for the future of the DRC. First, any deal must respect the sovereignty of the DRC. Second, the DRC needs transparency, accountability, and democratic governance, and any deal should include strong provisions to increase, not decrease those elements. For example, any agreement must follow strict contract and revenue transparency requirements from the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) standards to prevent corruption. Any pacts also must include clear mechanisms to ensure that Congolese people benefit from their own natural resources, and increased democratic provisions to allow the Congolese people a strong say in their future.
A Better End to the Conflict
Compared to the current trajectory, a better end to the conflict is possible. Building on the recent Trump administration sanctions, the United States, the U.K., and the EU should impose escalating targeted network sanctions against senior Rwandan and DRC officials and their affiliated companies and enablers until the Rwandan government withdraws its troops from foreign soil and ends all support for — and pulls back — the M23, and the DRC government halts its aid to the FDLR.The United States and Europe can utilize a second point of leverage: direct budget support from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund that the DRC and Rwandan governments depend on. U.S. and European governments should vote to have this multilateral aid frozen immediately. The combination of U.S. and EU sanctions and suspension of World Bank budget support for Rwanda was effective when the first M23 crisis unfolded in 2012, forcing Rwanda to pull its proxy out of DRC. Individual governments have recently acted, from the U.K. to Germany to Canada to Belgium, but a much bigger, coordinated effort is needed. The support can be turned back on and sanctions can be reversed if the governments deescalate the crisis.
In addition, there must be increased public and private pressure on the conflict gold profiteers. The U.S. and the EU should sanction gold traders and refiners in the UAE, Rwanda, and Uganda who are buying and selling conflict gold, much like when the United States sanctioned a UAE-based company that purchased gold from Sudan’s genocidal Rapid Support Forces. Banks, jewelers, and their associations such as the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) should mark the UAE as a red-flag zone for gold purchases until the UAE halts conflict-gold purchases from the region.
Finally, the EU should end its deal with Rwanda for the critical minerals it has been smuggling from eastern DRC. If Rwanda withdraws its troops and those of the M23 and the DRC government halts its support to armed groups, the EU and the United States together could lock in new agreements for future critical-mineral exports, but only if maximum transparency is applied to prevent corruption.
Ramping up escalating network sanctions on the ‘crew of fallen angels’ prosecuting and profiting from the violence, freezing multilateral aid to the two governments, ending minerals deals with Rwanda and negotiating new ones with DRC, and targeting the conflict gold trade would not cost U.S. or EU taxpayers any money. Yet they would go a long way toward protecting strategic mineral supplies, saving lives, introducing accountability for the suffering, and preventing a much wider crisis. That’s a deal the Trump administration should invest in.
IMAGE: A M23 soldier stands at the Coltan mining pits in Rubaya on March 5, 2025. Ravaged by conflict for 30 years, eastern DRC is believed to hold between 60% and 80% of the world’s reserves of coltan, an essential mineral for manufacturing electronic equipment. (Photo by CAMILLE LAFFONT/AFP via Getty Images)
Mute22
Regular
Nevermind using my work access:
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.
Perth-based AVZ Minerals’ Congo lithium hopes hinge on US envoy’s talks
Brad ThompsonCongolese 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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RIO can take that and fk off.
How does such a number even leak when clearly must be a joke
Mr_Tones83
Regular
Not only a terrible offer, but this stood out for me...
"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"
Cominiere further breaching ICC orders letting Kobold onto the south, and confirms they weren't working on behalf of AVZ.
Funnily enough they're invited by Cominiere and then say they want nothing to do with them on the project
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