Above is just a screenprint of the project from the ACGT website after the link giantpaperclips provided is dropped into google translate as a url and clicked upon.
Near the top we can see 19 November 2018 as the date of the update to the site presumably. Note Phase 2 has a dollar value assigned and CREC 7 / SOPECO seem to have been assigned the phase 2 contract - note there is a contract signature under Important dates going back to November 2014.
I am not clear though whether funding for phase 2 has effectively occurred as opposed to there being in principle agreement that it will occur - and this is the part that Simon Cong/Dathomir Mining Resources is supposed to make happen.
Irrespective of what NF says or what AVZ does or does not announce the real evidence of road work should be apparent from what ACGT and CREC 7 report on. They provided updates last year which folk like giantpaperclips and Dr_Manhattan have showed us how to find in this thread.
Drop the following URL
http://www.crsg.cn/hw/tabid/1107/searchmid/1984/searchtid/1106/Default.aspx?keywords=卢米马
into google translate and click on the link and we effectively see a search done on the chinese characters for the luminar project.
Now if the project name changes a different search paramater in chinese would be needed.
But I think, bottom line, is, if we don't see hard reports from CREC 7 the contractor assigned to do the work on the road to Manono or from ACGT then there is little likely to be happening.
In the commentary NF provided in the Recharge interview it was clear they are thinking the 2mtpa scenario, 440,000 tpa spodumene concentrate 6% was going to involve double trucks weighing about 60 tons. I think it was 25 per day. I'll check and correct if wrong. So those trucks will need an all weather route out from Manono and bridges where necessary to support that weight.
Personally I am expecting delays in transport and so a delay in the DFS of another construction season so my concerns are that AVZ stays solvent until it gets all weather roads out. I'm not much concerned about anything else. I'm open to NF surprising to the upside. My concern is that Simon Cong of Dathomir Mining Resources has a contractual relationship with Cominiere rather than with Dathcom the JV that was created by Cominiere and Dathomir Mining Resources and of which AVZ has 60 percent. I'd be a lot more confident AVZ could show a bankable DFS if it could show it was a party to contracts for road construction to Manono and could be compensated for damages if construction was not completed on time.
We are dealing with the DRC - even the Presidential elections were controversial - although peaceful. It is likely that things cannot be forced quickly in the DRC and that the DRC will still struggle with corruption and bribery for some time. Doesn't in my opinion mean things can't happen but it does in my opinion mean that it is likely NF can't always say what the hold up is because the hold up may be that someone is getting a shakedown and that that is not unusual and there is little point reporting that and burning relationships with people in the DRC who are likely still going to be in positions to influence project timelines. All just my opinion.
