Nelson Gahadza, [email protected]
Mutapa Energy Minerals plans to start construction of a lithium concentrate processing plant at its Sandawana lithium mine by June this year, as Zimbabwe intensifies efforts to beneficiate battery minerals to extract more value by moving up the value chain.
The energy minerals unit was recently established when Mutapa Investment Fund unbundled Kuvimba Mining House into five specialised entities in a strategic shift to sharpen operational focus, improve governance and unlock value across Zimbabwe’s mineral resources.
The fund’s other standalone entities are Mutapa Gold Resources, Mutapa Base Metals, Mutapa Platinum Group and Mutapa Frontier, which will focus on rare earths and frontier minerals.
Mutapa Energy Minerals chief executive Mr Innocent Rukweza told a recent press conference that the company was working towards breaking ground on the Sandawana lithium project.
The mine will initially focus on producing lithium concentrate before progressing to the beneficiated battery-grade products.
“We are hoping that before half-year this year, around June at the latest, we will have started constructing a lithium-producing plant, which does concentrate,” Mr Rukweza said.
He said while the immediate focus was on a concentrate plant, the company was also laying the groundwork for downstream processing in line with the Government policy to beneficiate and value-add lithium.
“On the aspect of sulphate, which is battery making, we will need a bit of time, but we are working on it, because 2027 is the deadline to stop the export of concentrate,” he said.
Sandawana Mine, in the Midlands Province, is one of Zimbabwe’s highly prospective lithium assets, with extensive pegmatite-hosted lithium mineralisation.
The mine, historically known for emeralds, is now being repositioned as a key contributor to Zimbabwe’s growing lithium industry under Mutapa’s mining portfolio.
Mutapa is Zimbabwe’s sovereign wealth fund, established in 2014 and rebranded in September 2023 to manage the nation’s strategic investments and state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
It controls a significant portfolio of about US$16 billion assets spanning sectors, including mining, energy and infrastructure, to drive economic growth and create national wealth.
The US$270 million facility, with a 600 000-tonne annual ore capacity, will be built under a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model with Chinese partners Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt and Tsingshan Holding Group, with commissioning targeted for early 2027.
Mr Rukweza said constructing the plant would take between 18 and 24 months.
Zimbabwe is ranked among the world’s top 10 lithium resource holders and is rapidly advancing the lithium sector with six major producers at various stages of development.
These include Bikita Minerals, Kamativi, Sabi Star, Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe, Bravura and Sandawana.
The sector has already created over 5 000 direct and indirect jobs, playing a critical role in the nation’s economic development.
Mr Rukweza said Mutapa Energy is actively engaging strategic partners to support both the concentrate phase and future downstream processing, including the production of lithium sulphate and lithium carbonate, which are critical inputs in battery manufacturing.
“In the meantime, we are actually pursuing partners who can help us to concentrate, and we are also forward-looking to then have a look around as to whether we can do a sulphate plant,” he said.
He said Mutapa had already attracted interest from partners keen to participate across the full lithium value chain, from mining to processing.
“But already, we have partners who are keen to make sure that we do the whole supply chain and we meet that deadline,” Mr Rukweza said.
Zimbabwe is implementing a phased and investment-driven timeline to move from exporting raw lithium to local, high-value beneficiation, culminating in a total ban on raw concentrate exports by January 2027.
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