Mining & Minerals

Zimbabwe lithium concentrate ban takes effect in January with one sulphate plant complete

23rd August, 2026

Harare requires exports of concentrate to stop on 1 January and has made written commitments on plant timelines a condition of trading until then. Two facilities are still under construction. Producers have asked for the date to move, and the answer will decide who is exporting in February.

Zimbabwe’s ban on exports of lithium concentrate takes effect on 1 January 2027, and the country currently has one completed lithium sulphate plant.

The regime built around that date has been tightening for a year. Harare suspended exports of all raw minerals and lithium concentrates with immediate effect on 25 February, in a decision announced by Mines Minister Polite Kambamura, with a ministry letter dated 17 February citing continued malpractices in mineral exports. Conditions for resuming trade were set out in an April letter to the Chamber of Mines, and they included written commitments on timelines for building lithium sulphate plants before the January deadline. A 10 per cent export tax runs on concentrate until the ban lands.

Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe, owned by Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, has completed a $400 million sulphate plant at Arcadia. Sinomine’s $500 million facility at Bikita and Yahua’s plant at Kamativi are both under construction. State-owned Sandawana remains at feasibility.

The arithmetic that follows is straightforward. A producer without a plant on 1 January has ore it cannot ship in the form it can currently sell, and a domestic buyer with a completed facility is the only route to market inside the country.

Reports have circulated that the Zimbabwe Lithium Producers’ Association has asked for the beneficiation deadline to move to mid-2027, though the request has not been confirmed by government or by the association directly. Whether it is granted is the question every producer in the country is now pricing.

The regional context sharpens it. Namibia has prohibited exports of unprocessed lithium, cobalt, manganese, graphite and rare earths. Mali is building a domestic gold refinery alongside a refining requirement. The Democratic Republic of Congo approved the 900-hectare Musompo precursor zone in February, targeting around $2 billion of private investment for nickel-manganese-cobalt powders.

Zimbabwe and Zambia meet at Livingstone in November. By then the deadline will be six weeks away and either the extension will have been granted or it will not.

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