I can understand the shares being issued but I can't explain the cash payment. I have a guess but needs to be verified, and unfortunately I wouldn't make this one public even if I did verify.
The holders prior to our involvement were not Dathomir. Cominiere was in JV with another Co for 3 years who did not develop the resources, or drill a single hole. The prior contract is online somewhere.
Need to understand how JV with DRC parastatal typically works.
These collection of state owned companies hold the richest licenses with resources discovered from Belgium days and partner with foreign junior explorer on basis of 55/45, 60/40, 70/30 etc.
The JV or partnership requires the foreign junior to fund and take it to feasibility or scoping study stage. (Most of the time the foreign junior is pathetic and just sits on the license)
Then if it looks good major miner comes and buys out the parastatal and the developer in one deal, and gives a portion direct to DRC government. Good case study, Moto gold mines 20moz discovery and feasibility study, and sale to Randgold, by... Klaus!
I can tell you rebuilding a 500KM road is not cheap, the Chinese can get things done cheap, but road construction in Africa is typically $1M/km. Say they do it for half the cost, still $250M. The hydro power plant needs $40-$50m put in to refurbish it. This is a huge commitment.
Remember the details of this deal are between Dathomir and Cominiere, Cominiere still hold 30% and have the 1% royalty, the terms of the deal could involve parts or all of that equity.
These guys are civil engineers not geologists or miners so next potential deal could be with a mining company, but the stage looks much better for a mining co to join the fray now that someone is looking after the basic required infrastructure. I'm thinking two companies, one focused on the huge inventory of Tin tailings + future output of Tin contained in rejects/tailings from hard rock spodumene mining, and obviously one focused on Spodumene mining / concentration + Conversion.
@sinkorswim comments re events surrounding the release of a scoping study (feasibility) are spot on IMO.
