The Sandawana lithium mine (© Aaron Ufumeli/EPA)Zimbabwe’s state-owned mining company and a group of Chinese investors started work on a feasibility study that’s a precursor to raising as much as $300 million to develop a new lithium plant.Kuvimba Mining House agreed last year to develop a battery-metal plant at its Sandawana site with Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt and Tsingshan Holding Group. The next step is the bankable feasibility study, after the project was delayed by capital raising issues, according to Kuvimba CEO Trevor Barnard.“Our plan is to complete all of this before March next year, and then we’ll be able to proceed immediately from there onwards with our construction,” Barnard said in an interview.Zimbabwe has emerged as a significant producer of lithium in the last two years after a spike in prices through 2021 and 2022 fueled a wave of transactions by Chinese firms. A Huayou unit has invested more than $700 million to buy and build the Arcadia mine, while Tsingshan has developed the smaller Gwanda project.
In June, Zimbabwe announced plans to ban exports of lithium concentrates from 2027, in a move to compel mining firms to develop refining operations in the country. The Sandawana facility — capable of producing as much as 500,000 tonnes of lithium concentrates a year — should come online during the first half of 2027, Barnard said.Chinese lithium futures have increased almost 20% so far this month on growing confidence in the demand outlook, helped by interest from the energy storage sector. The metal had been broadly sluggish since its 2022 peak, held back by a glut and slower-than-expected electric vehicle sales growth.The Sandawana project has the advantage of high-grade ore and should start operations just before the lithium market goes into deficit from 2028, according to Barnard.
“And our grade of the concentrate that we’re achieving is 5.5%, which is really also very, very good,” the CEO said.Bloomberg Zimbabwe’s state-owned mining company and a group of Chinese investors started work on a feasibility study that’s a precursor to raising as much as $300 million to develop a new lithium plant. Kuvimba Mining House agreed last year to develop a battery-metal plant at its Sandawana site with Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt and Tsingshan Holding Group. The next step is the bankable feasibility study, after the project was delayed by capital raising issues, according to Kuvimba CEO Trevor Barnard.
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“Our plan is to complete all of this before March next year, and then we’ll be able to proceed immediately from there onwards with our construction,” Barnard said in an interview. Zimbabwe has emerged as a significant producer of lithium in the last two years after a spike in prices through 2021 and 2022 fueled a wave of transactions by Chinese firms. The metal had been broadly sluggish since its 2022 peak, held back by a glut and slower-than-expected electric vehicle sales growth.
The Sandawana project has the advantage of high-grade ore and should start operations just before the lithium market goes into deficit from 2028, according to Barnard. “And our grade of the concentrate that we’re achieving is 5.5%, which is really also very, very good,” the CEO said.
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