Africa’s Largest Lithium Producer to Ban Concentrate Exports by 2027
Zimbabwe will ban the export of lithium concentrates starting January 2027, as part of a broader strategy to boost local value addition in the mining sector, Mines Minister Winston Chitando announced on Tuesday.
“With effect from January 2027, the export of lithium concentrates will no longer be allowed,” he told reporters in the capital Harare.
The move builds on the southern African nation’s 2022 ban on raw lithium ore exports and shows its commitment to developing a domestic lithium processing industry.
Most lithium miners operating in Zimbabwe, primarily Chinese companies, have been exporting concentrates to China for further processing.
Chitando revealed that two lithium sulphate processing plants are currently under development: one at Bikita Minerals, owned by China’s Sinomine Resource Group, and the other at Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe, owned by Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, Reuters reported.
Lithium sulphate is an intermediate product that can be further refined into battery-grade lithium hydroxide or lithium carbonate, critical components in the battery manufacturing supply chain.
“Because of that capacity which is now in the country, the export of all lithium concentrates will be banned from January 2027,” Chitando said during a press briefing.
Zimbabwe, Africa’s largest producer of lithium, a key mineral used in batteries for electric vehicles and renewable energy storage, has emerged as a critical player in the global lithium market, especially after prices surged in 2021 and 2022.
Although spot prices have since plunged by nearly 90% due to oversupply and weaker-than-expected EV demand, Chinese companies continue to invest heavily in Zimbabwe’s lithium sector to secure feedstock for their domestic refineries.
Last year, Zimbabwe supplied about 14% of China’s lithium imports, according to CRU Group.
Leading firms such as Sinomine, Huayou Cobalt, Chengxin Lithium Group, Yahua Group, and Canmax Technologies have collectively invested over $1 billion in acquisitions and project development since 2021.
Across the broader continent, lithium mining and exploration activity is gaining momentum in countries like Namibia, Mali, Ghana, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). However, these projects are still small relative to the number of projects developed in the Americas, Australia and Europe.
