The company has reaffirmed its openness to discussions, acknowledging its majority stake in Dathcom and legal claims to the Manono Project under PR13359. Credit: Skrypnykov Dmytro / Shutterstock.

AVZ Minerals has announced the resumption of arbitration proceedings against the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) regarding a contentious lithium deposit.

This follows a temporary suspension period that ended without engagement from the DRC.

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The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) proceedings, involving AVZ Minerals’ subsidiaries, were initially paused until 23 June 2025, after the US government encouraged a conducive environment for potential settlement discussions.

However, AVZ Minerals reports that the DRC did not participate in discussions during the suspension, necessitating the resumption of legal action.

AVZ Minerals is now taking steps to ensure the DRC is held accountable for not complying with injunctions from Procedural Order n°3. This includes filing a new application with the ICSID Tribunal.

Concurrently, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) proceedings initiated by AVZ Minerals against La Congolaise d’Exploitation Minière (Cominière) saw the ICC tribunal reject Cominière’s request to bifurcate the arbitration proceedings.

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The company has reaffirmed its openness to discussions, acknowledging its majority stake in Dathcom and legal claims to the Manono Project under PR13359.

In March, an ICC tribunal ordered Cominière to pay €39.1m ($42.4m) plus interest to AVZ Minerals for failing to comply with emergency orders.

This decision relates to a dispute over breaches of the Dathcom joint venture agreement (JVA) concerning the Manono lithium project, which is among the world’s largest hard rock lithium deposits.

AVZ Minerals had secured the permit to develop the Manono project, with the DRC Ministry of Mines awarding the mining licence in May 2022.

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