Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Mines and Mining Development has praised Kamativi Mining Company (KMC) for its investment in mineral beneficiation and renewable energy, while calling for increased exploration around the mine to extend the life of the operation, Mining Zimbabwe can report.
By Rudairo Mapuranga
Committee chairman Hon Remigious Matangira made the remarks during the committee’s fact-finding visit to KMC’s operations in Hwange on Sunday, where lawmakers assessed the company’s mining, processing and energy projects.
Matangira said KMC’s investments in lithium processing, mineral recovery and solar power demonstrated the type of investment Zimbabwe needs to extract greater value from its mineral resources while contributing to the country’s energy requirements.
Among the projects highlighted during the visit was KMC’s planned 36MW solar power plant, which the company has said is being developed at a cost of about US$25 million.
The project is expected to include a 48MWh battery energy storage system, with KMC targeting completion in September 2026.
Matangira welcomed the investment, particularly as Zimbabwe continues to encourage large mining companies to develop their own power-generation capacity and reduce pressure on the national grid.
He said KMC’s investment in energy infrastructure demonstrated the wider benefits that could arise when mining companies invest beyond the extraction of minerals.
The committee also welcomed KMC’s investment in downstream processing.
The company is developing a US$200 million lithium sulphate plant, with planned production of about 75,000 tonnes annually and commissioning targeted for July 2027.
KMC is also pursuing projects to recover and separate tin, tantalum and niobium from its multi-mineral resource. A recovery system is expected to be commissioned in September 2026.
For Matangira, these investments represent progress towards the Government’s objective of increasing mineral value addition and reducing the export of less-processed mineral products.
The projects would also allow KMC to generate additional value from minerals associated with its pegmatite resource rather than relying solely on lithium production.
Despite his praise for the company’s investment programme, Matangira cautioned that Kamativi’s mineral resources are finite and called for more exploration around the operation.
“It’s unfortunate that actually the endowments will be finite,” Matangira said, urging the Minister of Mines and KMC’s partners to invest more in exploration.
He said additional exploration would be necessary to identify further lithium, tin and tantalum resources around Kamativi and support the long-term future of the operation.
“They are not supposed to terminate because the product is finished,” he said.
The call comes as KMC continues to develop its existing resource while investing heavily in processing and energy infrastructure. Extending the resource base could therefore become important to ensuring that the company’s downstream investments remain viable over the longer term.
Matangira also praised KMC management for cooperating with the committee during its oversight visit, despite the inspection taking place on a Sunday.
He said the company’s willingness to receive the committee and provide access to its operations demonstrated cooperation with Parliament’s oversight role.
Matangira described KMC as an example of the type of investor Zimbabwe needs — companies that invest in the country, develop local capacity and seek to create broader economic benefits from mineral resources.
The committee’s visit forms part of a wider fact-finding mission examining Zimbabwe’s energy minerals sector, including coal, lithium, gas, oil and uranium.
For Kamativi, however, the next challenge is extending the resource that underpins its growing investment programme. Increased exploration around the mine could determine whether the current wave of investment develops into a long-term mining and beneficiation hub rather than a project constrained by a finite resource base.
