This cunt is relentless in his personal vendetta, hopefully marius/AVZ sues the arse off him soon...
Zijin Mining attacks AVZ’s $1.5m Mihigo deal, ICC hearing delayed
Tom RichardsonMarkets reporter and commentator
Apr 13, 2023 – 2.49pm
Chinese miner Zijin Mining has piled up the pressure on AVZ Minerals by claiming that the latter’s $US1 million ($1.5 million) cash payment to Congo middleman Marius Mihigo is unacceptable and against the rules of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s mining framework.
Marius Mihigo. LinkedIn
The broadside fuels a sprawling barney between Chinese, Australian, and DRC stakeholders over ownership rights to potentially the world’s most valuable untapped lithium project named Manono in the southeast of the resource-rich country.
“The agreement to pay such fees to middleman Mr Mihigo remains shrouded in secrecy and is of great concern to Zijin Mining,” said Chen Chen, a lawyer for Zijin. “The DRC has a comprehensive mining legal framework, which does not require any additional fees or lobbying by agents to obtain a mining licence. This conduct is unacceptable and contrary to Zijin Mining’s philosophy.”
The lawyer said a planned International Chamber of Commerce arbitration hearing in Paris between its legal team and AVZ on April 23 was postponed for unspecified reasons.
On Wednesday, the Australian Securities Exchange suspended AVZ for non-compliance with its listing rules after the former S&P/ASX 200 member said it could not disclose all information to the market. It also claimed it did not disclose Manono ownership disputes in 2021 as they were not material to its operations.
Since
The Australian Financial Review reported that Mr Mihigo accepted a $US1 million cash payment from AVZ, the consultant has denied any unacceptable conduct and claimed in London’s
Financial Times, French public broadcaster France 24 and DRC media that Zijin was behind an “orchestrated misinformation campaign” to defame him and AVZ.
The proposed Manono lithium and tin mine.
However, Ms Chen rejected these allegations. “As a paid consultant, Mr Mihigo’s comments are inherently biased,” she said. “These slanderous claims have been made without any evidence. Zijin Mining rejects all claims by AVZ and Mr Mihigo.”
Mr Mihigo has complained in public about the reporting of AVZ’s proposed plan to pay him an additional success fee of $US3 million and $US2 million in shares to total $US5 million if the mining licence was awarded.
On June 2, AVZ’s board agreed to hire lawyers DLA Piper to conduct a review of its plan to offer the $US5 million success fee.
DLA Piper later advised against agreeing to pay the success fee, which was scrapped.
At the expected ICC hearing later this year, AVZ will seek to have Zijin’s claim to a 15 per cent ownership right in Manono thrown out on the grounds the tribunal has no jurisdiction.
Zijin claims it bought a 15 per cent stake in Manono in November 2021 for $US33.4 million from Congo-state-backed mining body Cominiere. However, AVZ has repeatedly rubbished the claim as “spurious”, with no legal authority.
The Perth-headquartered miner says it still owns 75 per cent of Manono as the 15 per cent transfer is a breach of a joint venture agreement with the vendor Cominiere.
Zijin says its ownership interest was recorded in the Manono project’s public DRC share registry in November 2021 and is legally valid. Ms Chen has again attacked AVZ for seeking to have the registry amended.
“Allegations that AVZ agent, Mr Mihigo, was tasked to alter Dathcom’s business records to remove Zijin Mining’s legal ownership in the joint venture is also of great concern,” she said. “It’s noteworthy this news echoes a past attempt by an AVZ agent to use unlawful means to influence this project and alter records.”
AVZ also faces a legal fight with another joint venture partner named Dathomir and class action lawyers Omni Bridgeway. The Australian miner has repeatedly blamed its problems and 11-month trading halt on hostile third parties.
Zijin Mining says the legal arbitration against AVZ scheduled for April 23 has been postponed, and it has hit out at the Australian miner’s claims against it.
www.afr.com