Zimbabwe’s ban on lithium ore exports triggers stockpile build-up

Zimbabwe’s ban on lithium ore exports has resulted in stockpiles of the key battery metal building up.

The ban — introduced by the government last December in a bid to encourage local processing of the metal — has resulted in 2-million tonnes of ore being stockpiled, according to Zimbabwe Miners Federation president Henrietta Rushwaya. Now the industry has asked President Emmerson Mnangagwa to review the ban as it threatens the viability of their operations.

“The unexpected ban has prejudiced standing offtake agreements between miners and international buyers, some of whom had taken loans from their respective countries to trade in these minerals,” Rushwaya said in the letter to Mnangagwa. 

The ban has impacted small- and medium-scale miners, but it’s not clear how much lithium is contained in the stockpiled ore.

Most of the lithium from Zimbabwe — which has one of Africa’s largest resources of the metal — is usually shipped to China or South Africa, Rushwaya said by phone. Nations from the US to China are rushing to secure supplies of materials necessary for green-energy transition as the world turns away from fossil fuels.

Chengxin Lithium Group. and Sinomine Resource Group are exploring a joint venture to set up a battery metals processing plant in Zimbabwe, while Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt has invested $300m R5.72bn) to develop a processing plant at its Arcadia lithium mine. 

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