Zulu Lithium says it is increasing water recycling and seeking to limit its impact on local water systems as it develops its lithium operation in water-scarce Insiza District, Mining Zimbabwe can report.
By Rudairo Mapuranga
Prosper Muhoni, representing Zulu Lithium, said the company had recognised water availability as one of the key challenges facing the operation and was putting measures in place to reduce its dependence on fresh water.
“We realised that we are actually located in a region where water is very scarce,” Muhoni said. “And despite that, we also need it for our operation.”
Speaking during the Zimbabwe Alternative Mining Indaba in Bulawayo, Muhoni said the operation had constructed a water storage dam and was using recycling systems to reduce the amount of fresh water required by the processing operation.
He said the company was also seeking to ensure that mining activities did not interfere with water sources used by surrounding communities.
“We also make sure that we do not disrupt the natural flow of the river, because the community was actually benefiting from it,” Muhoni said.
The operation has installed a dissolved air flotation plant as part of its water-management system, with recycled water being used for activities including cooling, cleaning and terrain management.
Muhoni said water recovered through the operation would also be reused in the processing plant, reducing the volume of fresh water that would have to be drawn from the site’s storage facilities.
However, the exact proportions of recycled and fresh water cited during the presentation require clarification before publication, as the figures given in the presentation appeared inconsistent.
Water management is also linked to the company’s plans to relocate families whose homes are affected by the mining operation.
Muhoni said the company had considered access to water when identifying relocation areas, with families being moved to locations where dams were available.
“Working with ZELA and others, those people complained that this is going to affect us when you move us from this place to the other,” he said, referring to concerns raised over water availability and potential pollution.
“We made sure that when we relocated them, we situated locations where there are dams.”
Muhoni also disclosed that the company was considering diverting a river, with an Environmental Impact Assessment underway and local authorities engaged in the process.
The river-diversion plan could become one of the project’s most significant water-management interventions, given the dependence of surrounding communities on local water systems.
Muhoni said Zulu Lithium was also developing its approach to mine rehabilitation, although he acknowledged that the operation was still at an early stage.
“As far as rehabilitation is concerned, yes, we are still starting,” he said. “But we’re actually going to make sure that we follow through our framework and what we’ve standardised and established in our EMP.”
He said the company was working to secure funding for rehabilitation so that resources would be available when rehabilitation work becomes necessary.
The presentation comes as Zimbabwe’s mining sector faces growing pressure to demonstrate how new operations will manage water, environmental impacts and community displacement alongside production.
For Zulu Lithium, the immediate challenge is to balance the water requirements of a processing operation with the needs of communities and ecosystems in an area Muhoni himself described as water scarce.
