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Mines and Mining Development Minister Dr Polite Kambamura has directed his ministry to maintain the January 2027 lithium beneficiation deadline in its planning, despite calls by producers for more time to complete processing plants required to replace concentrate exports.
Opening the Ministry’s 2027 Strategic Planning Review Workshop in Kadoma on November 2, Kambamura said officials must plan for an orderly transition to lithium sulphate exports, including managing existing export quotas and ensuring processing projects at Bikita, Kamativi and Gwanda are commissioned, Mining Zimbabwe can report.
By Ryan Chigoche
“His Excellency has directed that, from January 2027, Zimbabwe will export only lithium sulphate. We must manage the transitional quota arrangement in an orderly manner and follow through to commissioning the plants at Sinomine Bikita Minerals, Kamativi Mining Company and Gwanda Lithium,” Kambamura said.
His remarks come amid pressure from lithium producers to have the deadline extended to around June 2027, arguing that several processing projects will not be ready in time to meet the requirement.
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The Lithium Producers Association made the appeal in June, saying only one of the country’s seven major producers had completed its lithium sulphate plant, while others were still constructing facilities or assessing their processing options.
The government has, however, resisted the request, with authorities maintaining in October that producers had been given sufficient time to prepare for the transition.
Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe’s Arcadia operation became the country’s first lithium sulphate producer this year, commissioning its processing plant in the first quarter and making its first export of the product in April.
Sinomine’s Bikita Minerals and Sichuan Yahua’s Kamativi operation are among the producers developing additional processing capacity, while the government is also looking to advance projects at Gwanda Lithium.
The January deadline is part of Zimbabwe’s wider effort to retain more value from its lithium resources by shifting processing from overseas markets to domestic facilities. The country previously banned exports of unbeneficiated lithium ore in 2022 before announcing the planned restriction on concentrate exports.
Kambamura said the beneficiation drive would extend beyond lithium, with platinum processing also expected to feature in the Ministry’s 2027 programme. He said plans for a precious minerals refinery must be incorporated into the coming year’s priorities as the government seeks to increase domestic processing across the mining industry.
The Ministry is also targeting tighter oversight of mineral exports, with Kambamura saying consignments leaving the country’s borders declared simply as ore or concentrates would no longer be tolerated.
Working with the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe and border agencies, the Ministry plans to strengthen the sampling, assaying and monitoring of mineral exports to improve oversight of the materials being shipped out of the country.
The directives form part of the Ministry’s broader 2027 implementation agenda, which Kambamura wants translated into specific, costed and time-bound targets across departments, provinces and parastatals.
The strategic planning workshop brought together Ministry officials, provincial mining directors, parastatals and industry stakeholders to map out priorities for the second year of the National Development Strategy 2.
Kambamura said progress against the targets would be reviewed every quarter, warning that the success of the Ministry’s plans would ultimately depend on implementation.
“A plan is only as good as its delivery,” he said.