Ann: Trading Halt, page-188

You're now putting out blatant lies and scaremongering. You must be terribly threatened by AVZ! I welcome Chinese investment as in CATH(CATL) because the Chinese as in CATL(largest lithium-ion battery maker globally) have expertise that other companies do not. Of course you fail to mention that the African investment fund is contributing $545million US and who knows who else comes to the table with Bosch, Tesla and CATL at the recent Battery symposium in the DRC and the MD's recent European tour. Also with an expanded 10 Mtpa output, hydroxide feasibility study-JV's? etc there will be a lot of interested parties.

BTW your LTR deposit's main orebody is over 300 metres deep and an expensive underground mine will have to be built where because of its structure, shafts, you will be unable to get to all the mineable reserves. Your open cut section is veiny and low grade. You can try and put lipstick on a pig but that is just the way it is. Contrast AVZ with the deposit at and near surface of homogenous high grade(lowest strip ratio/lowest internal dilution/consistent high grade/least amount of ore per amount of lithium product produced , 400 [email protected]%Li2O(the largest globally) will be easy and cheap to mine and having the lowest impurities; easy and cheap to convert. AVZ is planning a 10 Mtpa output which is 2 times greater than PLS's two plants combined. Now the amazing thing is that AVZ has an exploration target of 1.5 billion tonnes that Managing Director Nigel Ferguson has stated could be obtained easily. This would support a 40 Mtpa output which is mind boggling.

In time AVZ with the largest resource and being in the lowest cost quartile has the potential to control lithium pricing and supply!

Right now AVZ is about to receive its mining licence.

This will have huge ramifications, it being the green light for big funds to buy in and will will trigger some huge re-rating catalysts such as the BFS which will be massive due to the exponential increase in lithium and tin prices, the planning of a mammoth 10 Mtpa output(two times greater than PLS's 2 plants combined), increased resource size, think a mammoth increase in NPV, IRR and decreased payback period. The BFS will rock the lithium world! Other short term catalysts such as increased ownership, tax, duty and royalty benefits from the Manono Special Economic Zone(MSEZ), further offtakes, JV Hydroxide plant?, collaboration agreement between the DRC government and AVZ, HEPP(Hydro Electric Power Plant agreement), FID to follow-PRESS HERE These catalysts are at the business end of the development of a mine and are therefore significant re-raters. I cannot say the same for LTR which have a long way to go to reach this stage.

The mining licence and further triggered catalysts are very significant and have the potential to bring on a substantial short squeeze!


BTWthe recent PLS auction record for spot is very positive for the lithium market as are the profits made by Chinese lithium majors under current prices. Interesting that despite broader market volatility the Chinese lithium majors have rebounded green on successive days no doubt helped by the reopening of factories in Shanghai and the profits from huge lithium prices.

High-level independent metallurgical test verification of Manono'slower iron, fluorine and phosphorous levels - and projected significantly lower open pit stripping rates - underline the incredible latent value in the DRC project.

"We think this project is completely different to every other project out there because it is so large - we're not talking about 10m-wide zones, it's 200m,"says Ferguson.

"But it's not just about being the biggest in the pack, it's very much about that scale translating into value, which comes back to quality.

"It's the nature of the beast at Manono, with such a big, wide [pegmatite] body; it's cooled slowly, so we've got large crystals and a cleaner pegmatite.We've literally got, one side to the other, a single zone, and the wall rocks are black,

and the pegmatite is white … so we can just strip it down either side and not worry too much about dilution. It's pretty much 1.65% all the way through!

"SCT, which has designed about 85% of all the hydroxide plants in the world, have said they've never seen such a clean product- just really high grade and no detrimentals of any issue whatsoever. We have low fluorine, very low phosphorous, the iron is down to 0.4% in the product … and we'll probably get that down further with more tweaking. There is 2-4% mica in the body itself, but once it's processed it's down to … less than 1.5% mica, and we'll get that down further too."

Amazing fact: AVZ has established the world's largest high grade lithium resource with only 10% of pegmatites drilled! For instance there are a number of pegmatites untested and Carriere de l'Est that we have just explored briefly is thought to be bigger than Roche Dure pegmatite!






Roche Dure Pegmatite:

Kinshasa, February 1^st, 2022 (CPA)– The Minister in charge of Finance Nicolas Kazasdi, hailed, on behalf of the Sama Lukonde government, the improvement in the rating of DRC by S&P Agency, for having crossed the highly speculative grade « CCC+ ‘ for ‘B-‘ during a working meeting which he chaired on Saturday, indicates a press release from this ministry received on Monday at CPA.

According to the document, on January 28^th, 2022, S&P Agency upgraded the rating of the Democratic Republic of Congo from ‘CCC+, Outlook Positive’ to ‘B-, Outlook Stable’. This upgrade in DRC’s rating reflects a PROFOUND structural change that began several years ago, the statement said, which also notes that DRC has remained with ‘CCC+’ rating since 2017.

S&P Agency noted that DRC’s balance of payments vulnerabilities have abated, in particular thanks to the good performance of the mining sector thanks to copper and cobalt and to the significant financing of IMF since the conclusion of the three-year economic program in 2021. The Agency indeed welcomes the favorable developments in DRC’s external position, which is reflected in the significant accumulation of foreign exchange reserves, amounting to approximately USD 3.5 billion at the end of 2021.

The document also indicates that DRC’s economic prospects are also considered « stronger » by the Agency thanks to the expected expansion of production in the mining sector and favorable developments in commodity prices. These developments will also be supported by efforts to strengthen infrastructure, illustrated in particular by the start of production at Busanga hydroelectric plant.

According to the agency, the average real growth expected over the period 2022-2025 should reach 6.5% per year against 4% over the past five years.

This decision also reflects the government’s determination to pursue the implementation of an ambitious reform plan, particularly on the budgetary aspect which is part of the program relating to IMF’s Extended Credit Facility, note The source.

It notes, in this regard, that thanks to the increase in its rating, DRC thus joins the group of countries rated B- by the Agency, including in particular Nigeria and Cameroon.

This rating action comes following the change of the outlook from stable to positive, in July 2021, by the S&P Agency. In addition, the Moody’s Agency changed its outlook from ‘Positive’ to ‘Stable’ in October 2021, with the rating remaining at Caa1.

For the Minister in charge of Finance, who hailed this performance on behalf of the Sama Lukonde government, it is worth recalling the political will of the Head of State Felix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, who constantly urges the government of the warriors to work more towards to achieve development goals.AIMO

Exciting times for AVZ holders!

AIMO