Who benefits from Zimbabwe’s lithium boom?
Harare, Zimbabwe – Zimbabwe’s lithium industry is dominated by a handful of large-scale mining projects, most of them backed by Chinese investment. Major producers include Bikita Minerals in Masvingo Province, Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe’s Arcadia Mine near Harare, Kamativi Lithium
Harare, Zimbabwe – Zimbabwe’s lithium industry is dominated by a handful of large-scale mining projects, most of them backed by Chinese investment. Major producers include Bikita Minerals in Masvingo Province, Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe’s Arcadia Mine near Harare, Kamativi Lithium Mine in Matabeleland North, Sabi Star Lithium Mine in Buhera, Sandawana Mine in Mberengwa and Gwanda Lithium Mine in Matabeleland South.
Together, these projects have helped make Zimbabwe one of Africa’s leading lithium producers and an increasingly important supplier of battery minerals used in electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies.
The country’s push to move beyond exporting raw minerals gained momentum in April when Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe (PLZ) announced its first export of lithium sulphate, a higher-value processed product. The material is produced at the company’s recently commissioned $400m processing facility at Arcadia Mine near Harare.
In a post on X on April 27, PLZ said: “History has been made. Arcadia Technology Zimbabwe has successfully dispatched its first export of lithium sulphate, a landmark achievement for both the company, the country and the continent.”
PLZ is wholly owned by Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, a major Chinese battery minerals company.
Al Jazeera contacted PLZ communications manager Patience Mushore by phone and later sent written questions. While initially indicating responses would be provided, Mushore later declined to comment, saying the company receives numerous media inquiries and referring Al Jazeera to previously published statements.
Bikita Minerals says it is advancing plans to move further up the lithium value chain. In a statement seen by Al Jazeera, the company said it is aligning its operations with Zimbabwe’s beneficiation strategy through a multimillion-dollar investment programme aimed at producing lithium precursor chemicals rather than exporting concentrate.
The company said it has established in-house assay laboratories for real-time mineral testing, quality control and export compliance.
