What Will China do to TTX? We agree on this. China wants the entire deposit. And they employ some pretty egregious tactics to acquire and control a resource they need. They might wait TTX out. TTX needs money and will be forced to raise capital to keep afloat. Revenues need to realized at a profit to avoid dilution. The company intends to extract tin and tantalum in the near future. It will take time to optimize the prcess and make a profit. The revenue from the plant will help fuel development of the lithium deposits.
Going into lithium production is another matter. It's a very capital intensive process. The company can't go do so without a partner.
And as you mentioned AVZ being dragged along the DRC legal coals is dragging out. The Chinese may pay a few bribes to DRC officials to ensure that TTX gets caught up in the same sort of legal issues. As you aware, Eric Allard, your CEO, has been charged with corruption/bribery in the DRC. My understanding is this has not been resolved yet.