For what's worth, Ive been to the DRC (admittedly I have not...

For what's worth, Ive been to the DRC (admittedly I have not been to Manono) and many other African countries, although this does not make me an expert by any stretch, it has given me a different perspective on the "risk" that a few here keep banging on about...

Is there risk? hell yes - in some countries more than others. Here's a good example (no cross promote intended):

A few months back, another long term investment of mine in Mali was effected by a bit of a political upheaval. Literally, the President, the Vice president and the minister of defence were all kidnapped, forcibly held by the military and forced to resign (I sh1t you not). I would put this at the top of the "Geo-Political risk spectrum". Ultimately, the SP dipped by about 10% for 2 days and is now double where it was. Point being, in that particular case (as with much of Africa), the government (which ever government / dictator / Junta is in power) rely heavily on mining royalties (as minority stake holders) and the general mining tax base. Since then, they have pledged to move ahead with democratically held elections in Q1 or Q2 of next year (sure, it's debatable wether they will take place or not, but the point is, industry, commerce and taxation tend to move ahead regardless in all but the absolute dodgiest of jurisdictions - think Eritriea, Somalia etc).

If we take DRC as an example, we have a newly democratically elected government that is systematically sifting through their tax base and rebuilding (an already hugely successful) mining industry (it just hasn't been successful as a tax base, due to previous corruption / onerous chinese contracts etc etc). The DRC have literally been supplying over 50% of the worlds cobalt for decades (until now, the most critical and expensive part of the Li batt chemistry). Examples of any county in the world controlling 50% of anything are extremely rare.

Then take AVZ, if all comes to fruition (10mtpa + CDL + +), we could potentially have 1 company, within 1 country supply 30% of the worlds lithium. Again examples of one company / mine supplying 30% of any product or service are extremely rare. I'm the first to admit there's a hell of a lot that needs to go right for that to happen, but theres a hell of a lot that's already gone right so far... From micro cap (25mill) pre exploration to where we are now has been a monumental journey. In my view, the project has never been more de-risked or more likely to get to production than as of today.

I believe that the DRC is looking to make AVZ the blue print both in terms of the SEZ structure, the government stake holding and the ESG creds that the DRC can showcase to the global addressable market.

So sure, highlight the risks and potential pitfalls that we still face, but in my opinion the DRC represents one of the biggest emerging-nation opportunities on the planet today.

All IMO.

Powerage.