Not necessarily. Korea Zinc is apparently also interested, they...

Not necessarily. Korea Zinc is apparently also interested, they are more than 30x larger than NCZ and they are very well cashed up. Also fits in with the strategic goals of France to keep the asset out of Chinese hands + Korea are investing large amounts in battery production and have limited direct ownership of Ni/Co assets (compared to say Japan/China).

What NCZ does have going for them is that they are a miner. Although Korea Zinc is the most profitable zinc smelting group in the world and would partner with other Korean companies to refine the ni/cobalt.
KZ certainly has a capacity to pay more for the asset than NCZ.

IGO’s investment into NCZ was a cheap and low risk option to share in the upside if 1) NCZ were successful in bidding 2) If NCZ successful in bidding, making Goro profitable. If not successful bidding for Goro, they can work with NCZ to develop some of the FNQ assets that IGO are interested in. If NCZ are successful in bidding for Goro but can’t turn it around, IGO haven’t lost much and have a seat at the table in picking up the scraps.