Wang Pingwei

WANG Pingwei’s Sinomine Resource Group was part of a $1bn wave of Chinese investment in Zimbabwe dating from 2021 that sought to exploit the Southern African country’s abundant lithium deposits. Sinomine bought Bikita lithium mine in early 2022 for $300m and formed a joint venture with Chengxin Lithium Group to explore for the mineral. Since then, the lithium price has fallen about 90%, which has hurt the once enthusiastic sector. Even Sinomine felt the pressure. 

Normally, Chinese companies stoically play the long game when it comes to the metals cycle, but lithium battery revenue accounts for two-thirds of Sinomine’s profit centre. In any event, it complained in October that Zimbabwe’s poor infrastructure wasn’t helping matters. “The lithium mines continue to operate in an environment with risks that include fragile power supply, capital constraints and foreign currency shortfalls,” it was reported by Reuters to have said. Despite this, Sinomine promised to build a $500m lithium sulphate refinery over the next three to five years in Zimbabwe, in line with government demands for beneficiated products. 

Elsewhere in Africa, Sinomine bought the Tsumeb smelter in Namibia from Dundee Precious Metals for $49m. The Chinese produce rare metals, such as germanium, gallium and zinc, from the smelter’s tailings resources post a $223m refurbishment, according to reports in China. A further $563m in spending is planned for Kitumba Copper. Acquired in August, and based in Zambia’s Central Province, Kitumba is scoped to process 3.5 million tons of ore annually producing 60,000t of cathode copper a year.