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Africa Intelligence
SPOTLIGHT
DRC
Several paths forward for giant Manono lithium project
Manono deposit's Australian operator, AVZ Minerals, says its future looks bright on this world-class lithium project but there are few uncertainties about its development.
26/04/2022 Reading time 5 minutes
The Manono site, DRC.
The Manono site, DRC. © @AvzMinerals/Twitter
Places for one of the dates of Nigel Ferguson's tour of investors in Switzerland and Germany were snapped up easily. The managing director of the Australian firm AVZ Minerals will be in Frankfurt and Stuttgart today, in Munich tomorrow and in Zurich on 28 April. His roadshow, organised by the German consulting and financial communication firm Axino Capital, is full, and for good reason: Ferguson will be presenting AVZ's plans to develop Manono, one of the largest untapped lithium deposits in the world. And there are still a number of questions marks about the project.

Key steps
The Manono site is located in the south-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo province of Tanganyika, which has long been the stronghold of Joseph Kabila's family. The former president's brother Zoé Kabila was governor of the province and his sister Jaynet Kabila is an MP (AI, 25/03/19). Manono holds a reserve of 132 million tonnes of lithium with a production capacity of 4.5 million tonnes per year. Lithium is a core component in the manufacture of electric batteries, themselves at the heart of the global energy transition.

AVZ said in December it had gathered 90% of the $545m needed to start production and build export infrastructure at the site. Some of the said funds come from a planned investment from Suzhou CATH Energy Technologies (CATH), a joint venture between the Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology and billionaire Pei Zhenhua. The agreement reached between AVZ and CATH in 2021 provides for the Chinese firm to buy 24% of the Australian's shares in the lithium project for $240m. The end date for the implementation of the transaction has been extended to 30 April and AVZ is still short of a few million. CATH and AVZ agreed in February to waive several obligatory conditions, among them the need for AVZ to obtain its mining licence for Manono, which the Australian company needs before it can make any progress towards production. The company management said on 13 April that a decision on the mining licence was imminent.

An opportunity to leave?
Other than this key project for the DRC, investors are interested in Ferguson's European tour because in describing the event, Axino Capital's website mentioned "exit strategies for AVZ and its shareholders, for example a possible sale or takeover of part of the project".

Several commentators see this a sound option. It would come at a time when lithium is selling at a very high price on the global markets. Investors on the Australian stock exchange and Congolese journalists have been tweeting about the possibility of Chinese firms of buying a stake in Manono since the start of the year. One such firm mentioned is the Chinese group Zijin Mining, which already owns a stake in the giant copper project Kamoa-Kakula, in the DRC's Lualaba province, alongside Ivanhoe Mines, a company led by mining magnate Robert Friedland. In January, the Congolese state-owned company Cominière, AVZ's minority partner in Manono, announced that it had entered into a partnership with Zijin to explore lithium projects near to the deposit. Some believe this is an indication that Zijin and the DRC authorities are keen for the Chinese firm to invest in Manono.

Shareholder spat
Meanwhile, AVZ has come into conflict with its original partner in Manono, Dathomir Mining Resources. This company belongs to Cong Mao Huai, often called Simon Cong, a key middleman between China and the DRC deemed to be close to Zoé Kabila (AI, 23/04/21). The Lubumbashi High Court issued a ruling in late December in the case of Dathomir versus the joint venture owned by AVZ that operates Manono, Dathcom Mining, AVZ's technical director, geologist Graeme Johnston, and Papalas Musagi Wabulasa. Wabulasa is the clerk of the Lubumbashi branch of the public entity that registers companies and changes to shareholders or statues, the Guichet Unique de Création d'Entreprise.

In December, the Congolese judges ordered Dathcom to pay Dathomir $50m and for Dathcom's share certificate of 30 August 2021 to be confiscated and destroyed. The court also found Wabulasa and Johnston to be guilty of forgery and requested Johnston's arrest. There have reportedly been appeals filed against the ruling.

Dathomir had bought a 70% stake in Manono from Cominière in 2016. It then sold the majority of this to AVZ in 2017. The Australian group then sought to increase its stake. AVZ struck a deal with Dathomir in June 2019 to buy 5% of the lithium project for $5.5m. It then concluded another deal in August 2020 for Dathomir's remaining 10% for $15.5m (AI, 21/10/20).

The court decision mentions that Dathomir said that it sought an expert opinion on the sale price agreed with AVZ before the transaction was finalised and the payments made, believing that both the sale price and the stock market announcements made by the Australian company did not reflect the real value of the shares. According to the decision, Dathomir claimed to have then decided to cancel the transaction. The judgement states that the company, however, was said to have learnt that, on 30 August 2021, Wabulasa and Johnston had drawn up Dathcom's new shareholder agreement showing a 75% cut for AVZ, meaning it included Dathomir's shares.

In the ruling, it stated that Dathcom had argued that no wrongdoing had been committed by Jonhston, as he had not made any false statements or filed any false share transfer agreements, but also that the action was inadmissible because share transfer agreements could only be invalidated by the arbitration judge as chosen by the parties. In the ruling, it is stated that Papalas Musagi Wabulasa said that he had destroyed the share certificate of 30 August 2021.

This is not the first time there has been a battle over Manono shares. In 2017, the Mauritian company MMCS Strategic 1 initiated proceedings against AVZ in Australia seeking recognition of its rights to the lithium project. This first attempt was unsuccessful. MMCS has since filed for arbitration against Cominière. MMCS claims to have reached an agreement with Cominière in 2013 to acquire shares in Manono (AI, 05/03/19). Its case is reportedly pending.

When contacted, AVZ did not respond to our requests for further information.

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