Harare, Zimbabwe – Zimbabwe needs to maneuver past being a provider of uncooked minerals and construct industries that course of and manufacture from its personal assets. However as the federal government tightens restrictions on unprocessed mineral exports, smaller miners are asking whether or not they are going to share in that transformation or be left behind.
The federal government has restricted exports of unprocessed strategic minerals, together with lithium, as a part of a broader drive to extend home beneficiation. Authorities argue that Zimbabwe ought to seize extra worth from its mineral wealth as an alternative of exporting uncooked supplies and permitting different nations to revenue from refining and manufacturing.
The coverage has attracted greater than $1bn in funding into Zimbabwe’s lithium worth chain, in keeping with authorities officers and business representatives. However smaller miners warn that the price of constructing processing services, unreliable electrical energy provides and restricted entry to finance may make it tough for them to take part within the nation’s industrial ambitions.
Talking throughout a technical media tour of Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe (PLZ) in Goromonzi, Mashonaland East, on 17 July, Minister of Mines and Mining Growth Well mannered Kambamura stated Zimbabwe’s 2022 ban on exports of unbeneficiated lithium ore had inspired corporations to put money into home beneficiation.
“The development of the primary lithium sulphate plant in Africa is behind me, and this was executed in Zimbabwe,” Kambamura stated.
He stated Zimbabwe’s ambitions prolonged past lithium sulphate and lithium carbonate manufacturing, with a long-term purpose of growing industries able to manufacturing lithium batteries and photo voltaic panels domestically.
Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe, owned by China’s Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, stated its lithium carbonate plant was about 90 % full.
PLZ public relations officer Endurance Mushore stated Huayou’s investments had generated greater than $1.1bn in international alternate for Zimbabwe whereas increasing the nation’s lithium worth chain.
Coverage shift
Supporters of Zimbabwe’s export restrictions argue that the nation can not stay a provider of uncooked minerals whereas different nations seize higher income by means of refining and manufacturing.
Public coverage knowledgeable Tedious Ncube stated Zimbabwe’s lithium sector demonstrated why the federal government had prioritised beneficiation.
He pointed to investments at Arcadia Mine and Bikita Minerals as examples of corporations increasing Zimbabwe’s lithium sector.
Ncube stated home processing may create expert jobs, strengthen native suppliers and permit Zimbabwe to retain a higher share of the revenue generated from its mineral assets.
“The success of Zimbabwe’s lithium business exhibits that the best coverage can appeal to funding that builds industries, creates jobs and leaves a much bigger share of mineral wealth in Zimbabwe,” he stated.
Mining issues
For smaller producers, the controversy isn’t whether or not Zimbabwe ought to course of its minerals domestically, however whether or not they are going to have the infrastructure, finance, and market entry wanted to take part.
Shelton Lucas, enterprise growth director at Naivo Mining, stated the corporate operates chrome, antimony and tungsten initiatives in Mashava, Ngezi and Kadoma however faces challenges accessing inexpensive processing choices.
Lucas stated smaller producers have been struggling to entry processing capability, significantly within the chrome sector.
“For our uncooked chrome, we at the moment are pressured to promote to native Chinese language smelters the place they underpay us. For antimony, I’ve the assets to construct the value-addition plant, however for chrome I can’t as a result of the plant may be very costly,” he stated.
He stated he supported home processing however warned that smaller miners could possibly be excluded if new necessities have been launched with out assist mechanisms.
Lucas proposed a toll-smelting system, the place public establishments or business our bodies put money into shared processing services that miners can entry at clear charges whereas retaining possession of their minerals.
“The problem isn’t solely constructing processing crops, but in addition making certain smaller producers can entry capability on truthful phrases,” he stated.
With out such measures, he warned {that a} small variety of corporations may find yourself controlling processing capability and market entry.
“If these corporations additionally maintain export rights, they may dictate costs to small-scale miners, creating what may change into a predatory market that undermines the very folks the mining sector is supposed to empower,” he stated.
Financial constraints
Economists say Zimbabwe’s processing ambitions will depend upon whether or not the nation can overcome longstanding challenges affecting mining and manufacturing.
United Kingdom-based Zimbabwean economist Chenayi Mutambasere advised Al Jazeera that the coverage confronted obstacles together with energy shortages, costly financing, weak transport infrastructure, international alternate constraints and restricted entry to processing know-how.
“The ban needs to be greater than a political slogan; it needs to be an industrial sensible technique,” she stated.
![A worker oversees operations at Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe's (PLZ) three-line, single-phase lithium sulphate plant in Goromonzi, Mashonaland East. The facility is part of the company's investment in local mineral beneficiation and Zimbabwe's broader drive to move up the lithium value chain. [Enos Denhere/Al Jazeera]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/worker1-1784698069.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
Mutambasere stated the federal government wanted to assist the coverage with dependable electrical energy, investor incentives, expertise growth and clear implementation timelines.
She warned that restrictions launched earlier than the mandatory assist techniques have been in place may create unintended penalties.
“An abrupt ban the place corporations have invested within the sector might push the mining sector additional underground, which may improve mineral leakage,” she stated.
Authorities imaginative and prescient
Everlasting Secretary within the Ministry of Data, Publicity and Broadcasting Providers Nick Mangwana advised Al Jazeera that the coverage was meant to make sure Zimbabwe positive factors extra from its finite mineral assets.
“The federal government is implementing this beneficiation coverage in our minerals for the expansion of our financial system and to create a long-lasting legacy that might be witnessed by future generations,” Mangwana stated.
He stated the coverage utilized not solely to lithium but in addition to different strategic minerals, together with platinum group metals corresponding to palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and osmium.
Zimbabwe’s push displays a wider debate amongst resource-rich nations: whether or not limiting uncooked exports can construct home industries with out concentrating alternatives amongst a number of giant corporations.
For smaller miners, the success of the technique will rely not solely on how a lot mineral processing takes place contained in the nation, however whether or not beneficiation creates broader participation or leaves solely the largest gamers capable of compete.
Lucas stated the purpose needs to be to make sure that native processing expands alternatives throughout the mining sector reasonably than creating new boundaries for smaller producers.
“Beneficiation shouldn’t change into a barrier to participation. It needs to be an enabler of inclusive development, industrial growth and sustainable financial transformation,” Lucas stated.
