China Getting Control Over Lithium in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe breaks ground on a $300 million Lithium Project

Multimillion-dollar Zimbabwe lithium plants boost global supply chain control: China secures lithium leadership

In Zimbabwe, several mining companies have completed multimillion-dollar lithium processing plants, giving China a head start in the global lithium rush.

Major Chinese companies, including Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, Sinomine Resource Group, and Chengxin Lithium Group, completed the construction or upgrade of lithium processing plants in Zimbabwe last year.

Lithium-ion batteries, made from the country's hard rock lithium reserves, power a host of products, from electric vehicles to solar panels.

Zimbabwe's lithium reserves are hot property in the global transition to green energy.

In addition to controlling the lithium-ion battery industry globally, Beijing also dominates much of the mineral processing industry. Amid discontent from Washington over Beijing's grip on critical metal supply chains, China has increased its procurement of lithium from Africa and other places to get the raw materials it needs.

As a result of a sharp rise in African lithium exports to China between August and November last year, that grip got even tighter. As a result, the companies built processing plants to export lithium concentrates to China – mainly spodumene and petalite – for processing into lithium chemicals used in batteries.

Chinese construction contracts and investments in Africa increased last year, signaling a recovery from the pandemic.

According to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, Zimbabwean spodumene concentrate exports to China increased nearly fivefold to 177,000 tonnes in 2023, compared to 38,000 tonnes exported in 2022.