(Yicai) March 18 -- The dispute between a unit of Chinese mining giant Zijin Mining and Australia's AVZ Minerals over an unrecognized stake in the Manono lithium-and-tin project in the Democratic Republic of Congo will be heard by a DRC court, rather than the International Chamber of Commerce Court of Arbitration.

The ICC released its decision that it does not have jurisdiction to hear the case between Jincheng Mining and AVZ, Fujian province-based Zijin Mining announced today.

JCM launched an ICC case against AVZ in May 2022 after the Australian company failed to recognize Zijin Mining's purchase of a stake in Dathcom Mining, a joint venture controlled by AVZ which was granted the mining rights to the Manono project by the DRC government.

"This decision does not reflect on the merits of our case, but rather a redirection of legal proceedings," said Chen Chen, Zijin Mining's in-house legal counsel. “It signifies the ICC's inability to hear the matter at this time, which will now be raised in the local legal jurisdiction of the DRC.”

Zijin Mining remains confident in its ability to uphold the rights of all stakeholders involved and to ensure a fair resolution to this dispute through the DRC legal system, the company noted.

The Manono project is one of the world's largest lithium-rich LCT (lithium, cesium, tantalum) pegmatite deposits.

Dathcom was founded in 2016, with AVZ holding 60 percent, DRC government-owned Cominière 25 percent, and Dathomir Mining Resources the remaining 15 percent.

Zijin Mining kicked off negotiations with Cominière in June 2021 to acquire a 15 percent stake in Dathcom. The deal was inked and approved by the local government in November 2021.

However, after Zijin Mining's announcement of the deal, AVZ refused to acknowledge the Chinese company as a shareholder of Dathcom. Therefore, JCM launched an ICC case against AVZ over the validity of the stake it acquired in Dathomir in May 2022.

Editor: Futura Costaglione