This article published AFR is highly relevant to this forum right now as the diatribe ratchets up
- What you say on this forum can effect what goes down in Mali in the coming days/weeks . HC commentary has massive impact on the share price. Ive seen it countless times ,,, try googling CUDECO, HotCopper and investigation by ASIC -> price went to the moon on some HC heavy promotion, ASIC followed up.
And conversely, the damage can be caused by negative shareholder commentary that can
permanently damages business relationships.
Everyone has to be aware they are accountable for what they say... HC forums are not a safe bubble where you can say anything with impunity.
- Last sentence in article gives insight into the host countries perspective , the DRC but applies to Mali just the same.
Its not all about you. Seeing things from another perspective is not too common on this forum but try it as it will up your game immeasurably and profits will follow.
Former AVZ chairman slams ‘racist’ shareholders, plots new Manono deal
Tom RichardsonJul 10, 2023 – 5.00am
Klaus Eckhof, the former chairman of AVZ Minerals and architect of its deal to acquire the Manono lithium project in 2017, has slammed “racist” shareholders for inflaming tensions between the suspended lithium miner and its partners in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
He doubts AVZ has a future in the West African country, although he is no longer close to the business.
Klaus Eckhof the founder of AVZ Minerals’ Manono Project said it’ll be “very difficult” for the miner to operate in the DRC now.
Shares in AVZ Minerals have been suspended since May 2022 leaving around $2.7 billion in paper wealth trapped, after the DRC government refused to award the ASX-listed explorer a licence to mine the Manono Project, and cancelled its operating permits in January 2023.
The veteran mining entrepreneur said an online campaign by AVZ’s retail shareholders that insulted its government officials and Mr Eckhof had damaged AVZ’s reputation in the DRC.
“Look at Hotcopper, Twitter, all the racist comments and pictures there,” Mr Eckhof said, speaking from his base in St Tropez, France. “The government officials they speak French, but they can read English too and they understand and think that’s coming from Australia. It contributes to the perception, which is a problem.”
Shares in AVZ Minerals raced to a $4.6 billion valuation and membership of the S&P/ASX 200 in April 2022 as it boasted of a 75 per cent ownership interest in potentially the world’s largest hard rock lithium deposit in Manono.
However, a horror run has since landed it with a sharemarket suspension. The group faces a class action fight in Australia, a legal spat with the author of a short report in London, questions from the market regulator, legal disputes with its joint venture partners in the DRC and in Paris, and a plan to take the DRC government to arbitration in Washington DC to seek remedies for alleged unlawful conduct.
Mr Eckhof resigned as chairman of AVZ in 2018 and said his Canadian-listed explorer, AJN Resources, has been awarded a new licence to explore parts of the Manono region for lithium and gold, after an invitation to do so from the DRC government.
The politically connected geologist who has lived in the DRC on-and-off since 1999 and developed numerous successful projects in the country including tin miner Alphamin and Moto Goldmines said he now doubts AVZ has a future in the DRC.
“It’ll be very difficult for them [AVZ] to operate there now under the current management, but who knows, I stay out of it and don’t have much to do with it. I just know they cancelled all their licences,” he said.
“You have to communicate with your partners and go there every month, and if nobody shows up for two years and only lawyers come in, it doesn’t augur well.
“Now you’ve a situation where the company [AVZ] takes everybody inclusive of the state to court, and how does that go in the country? They didn’t get along with their partners and people who live in the country who have a certain influence. If you’re not there, it’s going to be difficult.”
Mr Eckhof added he felt the Manono deposit will “definitely be developed” by unspecified parties, but that he resigned from AVZ in 2018 as he is an “exploration geologist and not a developer of mines”.
No competition, incredibly rich
The DRC is incredibly rich in tin, lithium, gold, and copper deposits compared to Australia, he said.
“The geological risk in the Congo is virtually zero, compared to Australia, where it’s 99 per cent risk. You don’t chase soil anomalies in the DRC you can actually see the metal sticking out of the ground because nobody goes there. The copper belt you’re talking 4 per cent copper, 1 per cent cobalt, tin in Australia you’d be lucky to have 0.1 per cent and in the Congo you have 4.5 per cent. Lithium is the same.”
He conceded the DRC has a history of political roadblocks for overseas investors, which makes it a high-risk jurisdiction.
“The problem is if you find a world-class deposit then the Congolese people are very nationalistic, they look at it and think, why don’t we have that? But they forget that you have to spend $US250 million to find it and take the risk there’s nothing there, but it’s not portrayed in the press like that.”
(20min delay)