Yes, we are just waiting for the FIRB sign off, today was the sunset on the original extension.

AVZ Minerals extends sunset date of $14.1 million Yibin Tianyi investment

A request has been received from the FIRB for additional time to review the proposed investment.

The parties are negotiating an offtake deal for lithium hydroxide from DRC project

AVZ Minerals Ltd (ASX:AVZ) has substantially advanced a $14.1 million investment by Yibin Tianyi Lithium Co Ltd but the two parties have extended the sunset date for satisfaction of conditions precedent to February 28, 2020.

With all conditions precedent satisfied other than regulatory approvals to the subscription agreement, the extension has been made to accommodate a request from FIRB for additional review time.

FIRB requests additional time

This request requires an extension to the ‘sunset date’ to ensure that there is sufficient time for Yibin Tianyi to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals for it to complete its investment.

Accordingly, the two parties have agreed to extend the sunset date for completion to February 28.

AVZ will continue to work with Yibin Tianyi with a view to obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals as soon as possible prior to that date.

These include the necessary FIRB and Chinese Overseas Direct Investment approvals.

Offtake negotiations

Under the agreement terms, both parties will negotiate in good faith to agree and execute a binding offtake agreement for lithium products from the Manono Lithium and Tin Project in the DRC.

Senior AVZ management travelled to China last month to inspect Yibin Tianyi’s lithium chemical plant and to begin initial discussions on a binding offtake agreement.

This plant is under construction and forecast to begin production by June 2020

Yibin Tianyi is targeting annual production of up to 25,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide with future staged expansions expected to increase production to about 100,000 tonnes, making Yibin Tianyi’s plant one of the largest hydroxide suppliers in China.