KoBold Makes Offer for Congo Lithium as Country Courts US, page-2010

The US wants AVZ and the DRC to drop any legal action before a sale, with the ceasefire in their arbitration case pointing to a breakthrough on that front. It appears Chinese mining heavyweight Zijin will be left alone to develop the northern half of Manono.However, AVZ will have to talk with Chinese battery-maker CATL, which listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last week, about the sale to KoBold. A CATL subsidiary owns part of AVZ and, through a deal revised in January, helped fund the legal fight with the DRC.It was reported on March 30 that AVZ could on-sell the Manono project to KoBold for up to $US1.5bn.However, the sale price remains unclear and complicated by geopolitics, further weakness in global lithium markets and the possibility the DRC could ignore any adverse ruling if the international arbitration case were to continue.