Democratic Republic of Congo officials and Kobold Metals signed a framework agreement Wednesday aimed at reviving the Manono deposit, one of the world’s largest untapped hard-rock lithium resources. Mining Minister Kizito Pakabomba inked the accord alongside Kobold’s country chief Benjamin Katabuka at a ceremony witnessed by President Félix Tshisekedi, according to the presidency’s press office.
Manono, in Tanganyika province, was once slated for production by Australia’s AVZ Minerals, but Congolese regulators stripped the company of key permits in 2023, triggering arbitration at the World Bank’s ICSID tribunal. Kobold—backed by Breakthrough Energy Ventures investors Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos—offered in January to acquire AVZ’s rights and compensate the Australian firm to end the legal stalemate.
AVZ and Kobold announced a term sheet in May that would see AVZ surrender its claims “at fair value,” yet AVZ resumed arbitration on June 24 after talks stalled, casting doubt on a swift transfer. 
Industry lawyers say any settlement must also address Zijin Mining, which won a rival slice of the same orebody and is pursuing its own redress.
For Washington, the pact is strategic. U.S. officials have pressed Kinshasa to favor American investors as part of a broader critical-minerals dialogue tied to security aid for eastern Congo. Manono’s spodumene could feed North American battery plants now scrambling to curb reliance on Chinese-controlled supply chains.
Kobold plans to deploy its machine-learning platform—trained on global geochemical and geophysical datasets—to refine drill targets and accelerate resource delineation. The company also pledged to digitize Congo’s geological archives, echoing work it previously undertook on Zambian cobalt belts.
Next steps include filing fresh exploration permits and negotiating community-benefit agreements in a region still scarred by conflict. Analysts at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence estimate Manono could eventually produce more than 300,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent annually, enough for roughly five million electric-vehicle batteries, but only if rail links to Tanzanian ports are upgraded and power supply secured.
Whether Kobold can close the AVZ buy-out before arbitration deadlines tighten will determine the timeline. People familiar with the talks expect an outline settlement by October, but warn that parallel claims from minority partners and provincial authorities could yet delay mine financing.
