ZIMBABWE’S lithium miners have asked the government to delay a planned ban on concentrate exports by six months to June 2027, saying producers need more time to complete local processing facilities, Reuters reported on Friday.
Africa’s largest lithium producer is pressing miners to beneficiate more of the battery metal in-country ahead of a January 2027 deadline, and has already introduced export quotas and a 16% tax on concentrate shipments following a temporary halt citing mineral leakages.
Innocent Rukweza, chairman of Zimbabwe’s Lithium Producers’ Association and CEO of state-owned Mutapa Energy Resources, told a mining conference in Victoria Falls that producers were at various stages of building lithium sulphate plants.
Only one facility, owned by China’s Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, is complete and exporting chemicals. Sinomine’s Bikita Minerals and Sichuan Yahua’s Kamativi mine are constructing plants, while state-owned Sandawana is still conducting a feasibility study.
“We plead that we be given just a little bit of leeway, because the deadline might be a bit tight,” Rukweza said.
Despite policy uncertainty, the industry projects annual lithium sulphate output of 344,000 tons by 2030, said Reuters.
Chinese companies, which have invested around $2bn in the sector since 2021, dominate Zimbabwe’s lithium mining landscape. Zimbabwe exported 1.13 million tons of spodumene concentrate to China in 2025, representing about 15% of China’s lithium concentrate imports for the year.
