I agree about the difficulty of doing business in Africa that is...

I agree about the difficulty of doing business in Africa that is a huge hurdle for anyone. However, I do not agree with the RIO comparison.

RIO is a huge organization that is internally constrained by its own bureaucratic processes while AVZ is not. Smaller more agile companies like AVZ are far better positioned to negotiate the landmines of Africa. While this is no guarantee that AVZ will be successful, I do believe their odds of success are far greater then a major operator like RIO.

I believe that AVZ have a huge opportunity here as the DRC government seems to finally be embracing western investment as opposed to the Chinese variety as they realize that the country will see a far greater return in the long run, however as you say old habits do die hard.

I may be a dreamer but I feel that at some stage Africa has start turning the corner so hopefully that is sooner rather then later.