Ann: Goulamina on Schedule Post Discussions with Mali Government, page-174

Everything that is in our control is being well managed.

As the question indicated the 55% split was likely out of LLL hands. Simon and Rick indicating how great and supportive Gangfeng are to me indicates the funding has changed because China government wanted to block direct investment into a western company so LLL and Gangfeng worked out an alternative way to proceed. Chinese government were one of the only hurdles to jump for that investment.