News: AVZ UPDATE 1-China's Zijin vows to defend stake in disputed Congo lithium project, page-15

Anyone with any sense looking at that statement will know it is an oxymoron. AVZ has not been able to mine the resource - develop the resource fast enough - because it does not have a mining lease. Standard of journalism is simply a joke.

Having said that with lithium discoveries all over the place AVZ has IMO lost its place in the development queue. Then having said that I suspect China doesn't care - get AVZ they probably feel they may be able to control lithium prices/production like they do across a number of battery minerals. If people want to understand the play here - IMO China wants to vertically intergrate because it relies on non-Chinese spodumene/brines for conversion to lithium chemicals.

Those western players trying to help the Chinese gain AVZ should be embarrassed with themselves, as control of AVZ probably impacts other lithium players (particularly when the Chinese seek to play and control input prices).

On a final point - who the hell would want to explore in the DRC after this fiasco when if you find something it can be taken of you. The DRC may as well become a province of China given financiers/western investors will not have any inclination to fund mining or the infrastructure needed for moving product from minesite to port.



All this could end if the DRC President had a ticker or I suspect they are part the problem as well IMO IMO as per. Post #: 70061362

All IMO