Zimbabwe: To encourage domestic refining and raise export earnings from refined lithium goods, Zimbabwe has declared its intention to prohibit the export of lithium concentrates starting in 2027.
The government will only allow the export of lithium sulphides starting in 2027, according to Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando, who announced at a media briefing on June 10.
An intermediary product for battery-grade substances like lithium hydroxide or lithium carbonate is lithium sulphate. The action demonstrates Zimbabwe’s intention to encourage the growth of value-added production capacity domestically and builds on the country’s December 2022 decision to prohibit exports of raw lithium ore.
The shift in government policy coincides with the growing demand for lithium around the world, which is being driven by the energy transition. As a result, automakers and battery manufacturers are rushing to set up safe and sustainable supply chains.
Similar actions by other resource-rich countries looking to increase the value of vital mineral exports are mirrored in Zimbabwe’s restrictions, which might cause supply problems for downstream processors who have depended on importing raw concentrates.
A number of significant Chinese battery metals businesses have recently purchased lithium mining properties in Zimbabwe, which contains Africa’s greatest lithium reserves. As a result, Zimbabwe has become an important player in the lithium supply chain.
Notable Chinese acquisitions include Sinomine Resource Group’s purchase of the Bikita Lithium Mine and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt’s $422 million purchase of Prospect Resources’ Arcadia Lithium Project in 2021.
Zimbabwe produced over 122,000 mt of mined lithium material in 2024, almost tripling the amount produced the year before, according to the most recent estimates from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Under construction are processing plants
According to Chitando, two significant Zimbabwean companies—Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe, owned by Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, and Bikita Minerals, owned by Sinomine of China—are presently developing lithium sulphate processing facilities.
He went on to say that the facilities will be essential to the nation’s ability to continue lithium sales revenue flows while meeting its export limitation deadline for 2027.
The minister encouraged enterprises that have the required processing capacity to sign tolling agreements with lithium producers that are not investing in value-added processing facilities.
By forming alliances with processors, this strategy aims to maintain compliance with the new export regulations while permitting smaller miners to carry on with their operations.
The change in policy is a reflection of Zimbabwe’s overarching plan to optimize profits from its wealth of mineral resources, particularly its huge lithium deposits, which have recently drawn major Chinese investment.
As the demand for batteries throughout the world is growing, the government wants to increase employment, build technological know-how, and gain a bigger piece of the lithium value chain by requiring local processing.
Due to surplus supply and increased trade tensions between the US and China, the market fundamentals for lithium have continued to deteriorate in recent months, despite strong EV sales.
Battery-grade lithium carbonate was valued at Yuan 61,000 ($8,489)/mt on a delivered, duty-paid China basis on June 10 by Platts, a division of S&P Global Commodity Insights. This was a decrease of Yuan 3,400/mt from a month earlier.
Zimbabwe has the largest lithium reserves in Africa, with an estimated 310,000 tonnes.
It also holds the eighth-largest lithium reserves in the world.
Lithium is one of the most sought-after minerals globally.
It is used in the manufacturing of rechargeable batteries for electronics, electric vehicles, and energy storage systems.
