Australia’s corporate watchdog has accused suspended mining explorer AVZ Minerals and two directors of failing to disclose critical market information after they delayed telling investors about a threat to its flagship African lithium project.

The West Australian company’s delisting last year left AVZ investors nursing losses of $2.8 billion – one of the biggest wealth wipeouts in ASX history – following a fight over ownership of a massive hard rock lithium deposit in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.