Mines and Mining Development Minister Dr Polite Kambamura has delivered a stern message to the lithium mining industry: the era of prioritising volume over value is over, as Zimbabwe accelerates its push to transform mineral wealth into industrial capacity, jobs and sustainable national prosperity, Mining Zimbabwe can report.
By Rudairo Mapuranga
Speaking as guest of honour at the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe Annual Conference, held under the theme “Unlock Value, Maximise Benefit, Sustain Growth”, Dr Kambamura told delegates that the central challenge facing the country is no longer whether Zimbabwe is mineral-rich. “That question was settled long ago by geology, production and history.” The real challenge, he said, is “whether we can transform our mineral endowments into industrial capacity, jobs, exports, infrastructure, technology and sustainable national prosperity”.
‘Volumes Without Value’
In a pointed remark directed at the lithium sector, the Minister expressed frustration with the current export model.
“I am worried about volumes without value,” Kambamura said. “I would rather work with small volumes of high value. Volumes and values should be knitted together.”
The warning comes as data shows Zimbabwe exported more than 1.1 million tonnes of spodumene concentrate in 2025, mostly to China. While mining now contributes 14.3% of GDP, the Minister argued that raw exports alone cannot deliver the infrastructure and industrial development the country needs.
“We cannot build a railway, we cannot build industries, we cannot build infrastructure by exporting concentrates,” he stressed.
Dr Kambamura hailed the recent shipment of battery-grade lithium sulphate by Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe as a “historic milestone not only for Zimbabwe, but for Africa as a whole”.
In April 2026, Zimbabwe shipped the continent’s first-ever consignment of lithium sulphate, a high-value battery material, from the Arcadia lithium mine near Harare. The shipment came from a US$400 million processing plant commissioned by Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, marking the first time a lithium salt has been produced on the African continent.
“It demonstrates that beneficiation is achievable where policy certainty, investment commitment and government support converge,” Kambamura said.
The milestone follows the government’s February 2026 suspension of all raw mineral and lithium concentrate exports, a policy shift aimed at promoting transparency, in-country value addition and accountability. The ban has since triggered a wave of investment, with commitments reaching nearly US$1 billion in domestic processing infrastructure. Major producers, including Huayou’s Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe and Sinomine’s Bikita Minerals, have committed approximately US$700 million and US$500 million respectively towards lithium sulphate processing facilities.
The Smuggling Threat
The Minister also declared an “uncompromising war” on mineral smuggling, warning that illicit exports of gold, lithium and diamonds are bleeding the economy of critical foreign currency, state revenue and jobs.
“A tonne of lithium smuggled out of the country, a carat of diamond exported illicitly, that is revenue lost and jobs exported,” Kambamura said.
The scale of the problem is staggering. Zimbabwe is estimated to lose up to US$15 billion annually through illicit financial flows, exceeding the government’s entire US$12 billion mining sector target. A 2025 report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime described Zimbabwe’s mineral leakages as “industrial-scale looting” involving “a complex web of criminal syndicates, state-embedded actors and private-sector entities”.
Lithium smuggling networks reportedly exploit porous borders through mislabelled shipments, forged customs documents and bribes paid to border officials. In one case, a truck driver carrying a sealed container he believed held chrome was impounded after inspectors discovered raw lithium inside, an illegal export under Zimbabwean law.
An undercover investigation by Oxpeckers in April 2025 exposed a transnational lithium smuggling ring moving ore through South Africa and Mozambique. The investigation highlighted a startling anomaly: South Africa, which has minimal domestic lithium production, recorded a 147,000-tonne surge in lithium ore exports to China in 2024, pointing directly to Zimbabwe as the source.
Kambamura framed Zimbabwe’s beneficiation push within the broader context of global geopolitical shifts. He noted that “the new norms shaped by global geopolitics require resilience, which is no longer an option but a strategic necessity”.
“Global financing systems are navigating economic turbulence, digital disruption, geopolitical risk and climate-related shifts,” he said. “To remain relevant, governments need to come up with deliberate and timely policy interventions to recover from such global shocks.”
The Minister’s address comes as Zimbabwe’s mining industry projects foreign currency earnings of more than US$7 billion this year, up from around US$4 billion in 2025. Lithium exports alone are anticipated to reach US$700 million in 2026, with output expected to increase to 3 million tonnes from around 2.5 million tonnes in 2025.
Dr Kambamura outlined the government’s beneficiation strategy as founded on “a simple principle: local value creation beyond extraction”. In the lithium subsector, he said the government has “progressively moved from restricting raw ore exports toward promoting downstream processing”, with the objective of developing local capacity in lithium sulphates, lithium carbonates and other high-value products that can position Zimbabwe within global battery mineral value chains.
“The lesson is clear: value, not volume alone, must drive our future mining sector,” he said.
The conference, which capped attendance at 500 delegates despite overwhelming demand, featured five thematic symposiums covering ESG and sustainability, gold, platinum group metals, lithium and critical minerals, and coal, oil and gas. Beyond Kambamura, the Chamber invited the Finance Minister, the Energy Minister and the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to address policy levers critical to the sector.
As Zimbabwe forges ahead with its beneficiation agenda, the Minister’s message was clear: the country’s mineral wealth must translate into tangible industrial development—or risk being exported along with the ore itself.
