Tanganyika province · Democratic Republic of the Congo
Manono sits on one of the world’s largest hard-rock lithium deposits. Inspectors, NGOs, and journalists say national officials and connected intermediaries cashed the titles first. Local government is accused of illegal road fees — not of writing the mining deals.
This is a briefing compiled from public reporting. Many items are inspectorate findings, investigative claims, or allegations — not criminal convictions. Cominière and some named individuals have issued denials. Official IGF conclusions carry more weight than NGO notes.
The money trail
Select a figure. Each bar is a reported sum tied to Manono lithium — state undervaluation, a humanitarian transfer, missing deposits, or intermediary fees.
$120.7M
In 2021 Cominière transferred 15% of Dathcom to Zijin for $33.44 million. The Inspection Générale des Finances valued those shares at about $154 million — a $120.7 million gap. IGF also said mining titles were transferred without transfer fees or “key money” reaching the state miner.
Chronology
Alphamin treats Manono titles as essentially worthless. Within a few years they reappear in a chain of companies around Klaus Eckhof and Medidoc FZE, then AVZ Minerals.
Cominière and Dathomir form Dathcom Mining. AVZ later buys in. A core concession is revoked and reassigned under contested circumstances. This is the seed of the later AVZ–Cominière war.
Cominière sells 15% to Zijin for $33.44 million. AVZ says it was blocked from a pre-emption right. IGF later calls the price a $120.7 million undervaluation of public assets.
The financial inspectorate concludes Cominière’s management, with the Ministry of Portfolio, intentionally sold off mining assets. It flags illegal title transfers with no revenue traced to the state company.
Ministerial decrees stall exploration. AVZ’s permit is revoked. In May a Kalemie court restores titles to Cominière. AVZ fights this in ICC arbitration. Cominière says the joint venture collapsed because of AVZ’s alleged fraud and opacity.
Cominière forms a new JV with Zijin’s Jinxiang Lithium. The mines minister authorises work on the northern deposit. This is the Chinese project now visible on the ground.
After the $70 million NGO payment and unpaid community obligations, Tanganyika provincial authorities instruct the territorial administrator of Manono to stop Manono Lithium until further notice.
Civil society (Abbé Moïse Kiluba) reports at least nine barriers on the Manono–Kabongo road charging 5,000–10,000 CDF per truck. Interim administrator Donatien Ngoy Kasongo says illegal posts were already dismantled and remaining ones are authorised tax points.
Manono Lithium obtains PE 15775. AFREWATCH says the circumstances are controversial and the company refused to publish its environmental and social impact study, which Congolese law requires to be consulted with affected villages.
Journalismfund, ZAM, and Museba Project map the permit carousel. Resource Matters publishes nine red flags (8 Dec 2025). Cominière replies that CAMI, not Cominière, issues permits and that contracts were sent to the mining contracts commission.
A CREC 7 employee is kidnapped near Manono. Artisanal miners are pushed off concessions. Villages Majondo, Matala, and Lwamba face displacement risk. In September, Manono Lithium workers blockade the Manono–Kanteba road over unpaid days and family allowances.
Resource Matters · Dec 2025
Cominière replied that the AVZ fight is a joint-venture dispute, that CAMI issues permits, and that contracts were filed. The flags still describe the pattern: opacity, connected counterparties, and missing money.
A years-long fight over the south of the deposit has frozen industrial production. AVZ claims expropriation; Cominière says the JV ended after alleged abuse by the majority. ICC arbitration is ongoing.
Jurisdiction
The territorial office in Manono can tax a road and pause a company. It cannot sell a lithium title. Toggle the layer.
Where the money actually moves
The core alleged illegality is national: the Ministry of Mines, CAMI, Cominière, and the Ministry of Portfolio. Local Manono does not grant lithium titles and does not cash the $33 million share sales.
The Manono–Kitolo pegmatite field. Titles for this ground are granted in Kinshasa, not at the territorial desk.
People and institutions
State miner · national
Holds the state’s lithium equity. IGF said its management sold assets cheap. It denies Resource Matters’ red flags and blames AVZ for the JV collapse.
Title gatekeepers · national
CAMI processes titles; the minister grants them. Jean-Félix Mupande ran CAMI through a decade of Manono deals. Family members of regulators appear in nearby permits.
State inspectorate · national
The most official voice in the file. Concluded Cominière and the Ministry of Portfolio intentionally stripped mining assets, including a $120.7 million undervaluation.
Minister; Dathomir family stake · national
Minister of state for regional planning (from 2021), later relations with parliament. Reporting links his family to Dathomir and to Future Mining, which took payments around nearby licences.
Local government · local
Can order a halt (May 2024) and run road posts. Civil society accuses services of illegal barrier fees. Administrators have denied that remaining posts are illegal.
Australian explorer · corporate
Spent years proving the deposit, then lost the core permit. Trading was halted. Now in ICC arbitration against Cominière.
Current operator · corporate
Chinese major now on the northern ground via Manono Lithium SAS. Source of the $70 million NGO payment. Expelling artisanal miners; workers protested wages in Sep 2026.
Deal intermediary · corporate
Chinese businessman described as close to the former Kabila era. Dathomir took the 70% private side of the original JV and, with Loando, is tied to up to $28 million in carousel proceeds.
Prospecting promoter · corporate
German mining veteran who cycled Manono paper through AVZ, Tantalex, Rome, and AJN. Analysts note he profited from the paper even as the mines made no money.
NGO + Cominière board · national
Destination of the $70 million “humanitarian” transfer. President sat on Cominière’s board from Sep 2023. Unknown to much of Manono civil society.
Manono civil society · local
Catholic priest and the town’s most cited community voice. “Millions of dollars evaporating between the individuals. Neither the public treasury nor the local community have benefited.”
Governance NGO · national
Brussels/Kinshasa outfit behind the nine red flags (Dec 2025). Jean Claude Mputu: opaque licences and political complicity let a small group enrich itself at the country’s expense.
Record
Read the inspectorate, the NGOs, and the newsrooms. This briefing does not replace them.
“Neither the public treasury nor the local community have benefited.”
Abbé Moïse Kiluba, Manono civil society