Zimbabwe’s state-owned Kuvimba Mining House plans to start building a $270 million lithium concentrator at its Sandawana mine in the third quarter of 2025.
CEO Trevor Barnard says the plant is scheduled to begin operations in early 2027.
Designed to process 600,000 metric tons of lithium ore annually, the project will be developed alongside two major Chinese metals companies, Reuters reported.
According to the agreement, these Chinese partners will construct and operate the plant for at least five years before handing control over to Kuvimba.
Barnard did not disclose the names of the firms due to ongoing negotiations.
“We are still finalising the last few agreements that we need to put in place and making sure we have all the necessary and compatible industry conditions for our partner to start construction,” he explained. “We are looking at breaking ground in the third quarter,” he added.
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Barnard highlighted that the timing of the plant’s completion could match an expected rebound in lithium prices.
Although spot prices have dropped by nearly 90% due to oversupply and weaker-than-expected demand for electric vehicles, Chinese companies continue to invest heavily in Zimbabwe’s lithium sector to secure supplies for their domestic refineries.
Data from CRU Group shows Zimbabwe accounted for about 14% of China’s lithium imports last year.
Analysts believe the current price slump may be temporary. Production cuts combined with a recovery in EV sales in China are predicted to tighten the market, possibly causing lithium demand to outpace supply by year-end.
“Our forecast is that lithium prices will recover sometime in the year 2027, right at a point in time when we expect the concentration plant to be in production,” Barnard said.
Zimbabwe, Africa’s leading lithium producer, announced last month that it will ban the export of lithium concentrates starting January 2027.
This move aims to boost local value addition in the mining sector. Chinese firms operating in Zimbabwe have long exported lithium concentrates to China for refining, bypassing domestic processing.
As part of its industrialisation efforts, Zimbabwe revealed that two lithium sulphate processing plants are under construction.
One is at Bikita Minerals, owned by China’s Sinomine Resource Group, and the other at Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe, operated by Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt.
Lithium interest is rising across Africa, with countries such as Namibia, Mali, Ghana, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, intensifying exploration and mining activities to meet growing demand.
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Image Credit: Business Insider Africa
