Actually, thats close to being a good summary of the situation...

Actually, thats close to being a good summary of the situation at the moment, but I would take it one step further given other Western investor experience in African jurisdictions.

If Ganfeng was not in the picture there is no hope of completing and repatriating anything out of Mali and certainly no hope of LLL shareholders seeing any profits from this operation. The project would be nationalized and then sold to a Chinese entity.

If Ganfeng is in the picture, then Ganfeng will be taking it, they won't be paying LLL for it, this is Africa, they will take it themselves for free, or maybe for the cost of some brown paper bags to whomever in Mali Government needs paper bags to make this process happen. The Chinese won't be gifting any % of the project to the government of Mail or local landowners, it will be LLL who will be forfeiting any % share of the project.

Either way - these decisions will be made behind closed doors in Bamako and Beijing, LLL shareholders will be the last to find out the fate of the ownership of the project. Thats the reality.