Yes, we were aware of the DRC Supreme Court appeal. It was...

Yes, we were aware of the DRC Supreme Court appeal. It was reported as early as 8 March 2017. The new information regarding that legal process is that the determination is likely to be made in the next couple of weeks. That is very good news as the Administrative Division of the DRC Supreme Court of Justice is, from my understanding, the highest court of appeal in the country.

I was excited to hear that AVZ’s DRC legal team believe the “chances of a ruling in favour of Manomin appear very slight”. This is as strong as a lawyer can get when talking about their prospects at a hearing.

The likelihood of DRC Supreme Court allowing the appeal seems to be minimal and a worst case scenario is compensation. The legal principle regarding the inability to extend the effect of an annulled decision to “innocent” third parties (in this case AVZ) applies in Australia as well as other international jurisdictions.

It is important to note that if the DRC appeal did not go our way, the compensation would be paid to MMCS by the authority which made the erroneous decision. As HappyonLit has pointed out, AVZ is not that party. However it is just as important to note that neither is our joint venture partner, The Cominiere may be a state owned enterprise but it is a separate and distinct legal entity and was not responsible for the ministerial order that is the subject of the DRC appeal. In those circumstances, I can not see how AVZ or the joint venture would be affected even if the DRC appeal was allowed.

This announcement removes a significant proportion of the legal uncertainty for me.