Infrastructure Funding

Hello all,

I hope this is of interest to some of the more active sleuths who keep digging up useful information relating to this stock. It highlights the increasing competition China will face for funding infrastructure projects across Africa, starting late this year.

US ups investment in Africa to counter China's influence

The DFC is a new US led investment agency with a $60bn budget, being set up with a view towards national security rather than foreign aid. It aims to gain foreign influence in poorer countries through infrastructure investment while offsetting China's efforts for the same.

Manono is not directly mentioned but may indirectly benefit from improvements to infrastructure that follow. I'm not sure if AVZ could obtain funding through this channel, but they'll be looking for funding around the time the US are looking to invest $60bn, primarily in Africa, and on:

"...private sector-led development projects that adhere to high standards and are financially viable over the long haul...".

A mine at Manono would certainly meet that brief description and the global significance of the resource combined with China's interest in it ought to at least put it on the radar for the DFC. Whether or not it's eligible we'll need to learn more.

There are also a few connections between the Trump administration and Erik Prince (which you can look into, I won't discuss them further than to say "Secretary of Education"). The relevance of this relationship being that it is Trump's administration establishing the DFC and Erik Prince who is reportedly raising substantial sums for investment in:

"...cobalt, copper and lithium assets located mainly in Africa and Asia..."
Blackwater founder Erik Prince aims to raise as much as $500 million to invest in metals needed for making the batteries that power electric vehicles (EVs)

Erik Prince is of course also the founder of Frontier Services Group, who are well capable of supporting infrastructure development in the most difficult jurisdictions, and also focused on Africa.

My bet on AVZ is a geopolitical one. There is no doubt in the resource at Manono or its future importance to the battery market. The only question in my mind is whether AVZ will be involved when Manono is developed. But I've gone all in, and will continue to do so. I'm riding this one like Major Kong.