Overview
- The Goromonzi lithium sulphate plant, built by Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe with Chinese backing, became fully operational in May and is the first such facility in Africa.
- The government froze raw mineral exports in February and has announced a full ban from January 2027 to require in‑country beneficiation of strategic minerals.
- Officials and industry representatives report the export restrictions have drawn more than $1 billion of investment into Zimbabwe’s lithium value chain.
- Smaller miners warn they lack affordable processing, reliable power and access to finance, leaving them vulnerable to underpayment by local smelters or exclusion from the new value chain.
- Economists say persistent constraints on electricity, transport, foreign exchange and processing access risk concentrating refining in a few firms, pushing some activity underground and slowing plans to move into battery and solar-panel manufacture.