The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development is targeting mineral export earnings of between US$13 billion and US$15 billion, while seeking to deliver close to half of its five-year strategic plan objectives by the end of 2027, as it moves to attract investment, expand production and increase local processing of minerals, Mining Zimbabwe can report.
By Ryan Chigoche
The targets set an ambitious agenda for the Ministry’s second year under its 2026–2030 Strategic Plan, with Permanent Secretary Dr Thomas Utete Wushe identifying resource mobilisation, international partnerships and private-sector investment as key to raising mineral export earnings.
Speaking at the official opening of the Ministry’s weeklong 2027 Strategic Planning Workshop in Kadoma on Wednesday, Dr Wushe said the institution would have to take the initiative in securing resources for its programmes rather than allow funding constraints to delay implementation.
“We are fully aware that we must achieve this while working under significant resource limitations. As the Ministry, we have made a determination that we are going to make the first move. We are not going to wait to get more resources,” he said.
He said the Ministry would mobilise domestic resources, strengthen links with international partners and State enterprises, and seek to unlock more private-sector investment.
“We will be mobilising domestic resources and also link to our international partnerships, strengthening collaboration with State enterprises, and unlocking private-sector investment for us,” Dr Wushe said.
The investment drive is central to the Ministry’s ambition to raise mineral export earnings to between US$13 billion and US$15 billion. Achieving that range will require more than favourable commodity prices; it will depend on the capacity of mining companies to expand operations, bring new projects on stream and sustain production across the country’s mineral sectors.
But the Ministry’s priorities extend beyond increasing the value of minerals exported. It is also seeking to change the composition of those exports by pushing for more minerals to undergo processing in Zimbabwe before reaching international markets.
Dr Wushe said beneficiation and value addition would be treated as a key delivery area, with the Ministry developing a framework to guide implementation across the sector.
“We want to make beneficiation and value addition a key delivery. It’s not going to be just a policy. We are determined to ensure that all minerals that are mined in Zimbabwe are exported after some level of value addition. Our team is working tirelessly to come up with this framework which will guide policy and implementation,” he said.
The proposed framework comes as Zimbabwe seeks to move further into mineral processing, particularly in sectors such as lithium, where investment in local processing has become an increasingly important part of the government’s mining policy. The challenge for the Ministry will be to ensure that the policy drive is supported by the investment, infrastructure and reliable power supply required to make processing viable.
The export and beneficiation ambitions form part of the Ministry’s 2026–2030 Strategic Plan, which is now entering its second year. The weeklong planning exercise is intended to turn the five-year framework into a detailed programme for 2027, setting out what departments must deliver and the resources required to carry out their responsibilities.
Dr Wushe said the Ministry was targeting close to 50% implementation of the objectives set out in the plan by the end of next year.
“We will make sure that in 2027 we achieve close to 50% of what we set out to achieve by 2030,” he said.
He said the workshop would produce an annual action plan against which the Ministry’s performance would be assessed at the end of 2027.
That deadline gives the Ministry a relatively short period to move from planning to implementation. Its progress will be judged against commitments that include mobilising investment, advancing beneficiation and increasing mineral export earnings, at a time when Zimbabwe is seeking to extract greater economic returns from its mineral resources.
For now, the immediate task is to translate the five-year strategy into funded and measurable departmental programmes. The end-2027 review will provide the first significant test of whether the Ministry has delivered on its pledge to complete close to half of the plan’s objectives.
The weeklong workshop brings together officials from the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development’s departments and key government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to align their programmes with the sector’s priorities and map out implementation responsibilities for 2027.
