Sinomine Bikita Minerals expects to have invested more than US$900 million in direct mineral beneficiation projects at its Zimbabwean lithium operation by the end of 2027, as the company pushes ahead with a lithium sulphate plant, tantalite extraction and processing expansion, Mining Zimbabwe can report.
By Rudairo Mapuranga
Sinomine Bikita Minerals Deputy General Manager Thomas Mufumi said the company expects direct beneficiation investment to reach US$383 million by the end of 2026, before rising to more than US$900 million by the end of 2027 as projects currently under development are completed.
“By the year-end of 2027, with the completion of the projects that are currently a work in progress, Sinomine would have invested in excess of US$900 million into direct beneficiation here in Zimbabwe at Bikita Minerals,” Mufumi said.
The investment follows Sinomine’s acquisition of Bikita Minerals in 2022, which Mufumi said transformed the operation from a small-to-medium-scale mine into a large-scale mining and processing operation.
Bikita’s mining history dates back to 1910, when the deposit was first discovered and became known as the Bikita Tin Field because of the tin deposits identified in the area.
Mufumi said lithium-bearing minerals were subsequently identified, with lithium production beginning in the 1950s and continuing through to the Sinomine acquisition.
Following the acquisition, Sinomine undertook further exploration, with Mufumi saying the company now has a 130-million-tonne lithium resource projected to support a mine life of more than 15 years.
The Bikita orebody contains a range of lithium-bearing and other minerals, including petalite, spodumene, lepidolite, amblygonite, eucryptite and tantalite, as well as the caesium-bearing mineral pollucite.
The company’s current production capacity includes 360,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate annually, 230,000 tonnes of petalite, 6,900 tonnes of pollucite and more than 144 tonnes of tantalite under Phase One.
Mufumi said spodumene concentrate averages 5.5% lithium oxide, while petalite grades range between 3.5% and 4.4%, depending on customer specifications.
Tantalite concentrates have an average tantalite oxide grade of 21%, with niobium oxide content ranging between 7% and 12%, averaging 9%. Caesium concentrates range from 2% to 11% caesium oxide.
The scale of the operation has also increased significantly since the Sinomine acquisition.
Mufumi said Bikita Minerals had 320 employees at the time of the acquisition, compared with 1,407 direct employees currently. Including workers employed through contractors, the operation supports more than 2,000 local Zimbabwean jobs.
The company exported 300,000 tonnes of spodumene, 2,311 tonnes of pollucite and 15,620 tonnes of tantalite concentrates in 2025, according to Mufumi.
He said the investment was continuing despite volatility in the lithium market, which reached a price peak in 2023 before experiencing subsequent fluctuations.
“The market itself has not yet matured, but the investment, regardless, continues,” Mufumi said.
US$400 Million Lithium Sulphate Project
The largest project currently under development is a lithium sulphate plant with an investment of US$400 million.
Mufumi said the project is expected to be completed and commissioned in July 2027.
The company is also developing Phase Two of its tantalite extraction project, which is expected to be completed by March 2027.
Another project involves expanding the spodumene flotation fleet’s processing capacity from two million tonnes to 3.3 million tonnes, with completion expected in the second quarter of 2027.
Bikita is also developing a 30MW coal-fired power generation plant, expected to be completed between the second and third quarters of 2027.
The power project is intended to augment electricity supplies to the operation, following the company’s investment in a 132kV electricity supply system and a 20MW solar power plant.
Mufumi said the company invested US$20 million in the 132kV electrical power supply, while a further US$2 million was committed to supporting rural electrification linking communities in Bikita, Zaka and Gutu.
Beyond the processing and energy projects, Bikita Minerals has invested in roads, schools, clinics, staff housing and transport infrastructure.
Mufumi said the company’s processing strategy was designed to recover value from multiple mineral streams rather than discard potentially valuable material.
The operation has separate processing streams for petalite, spodumene and pollucite, while additional processing is used to recover tantalite, niobium and caesium concentrates.
He said research and development at the mine was also focused on recovering value from minerals contained in waste streams.
The expansion comes as Zimbabwe seeks to increase domestic mineral beneficiation and capture more value from its lithium and other critical mineral resources before export.
Mufumi said the investments were aligned with the Government’s value addition agenda while creating employment and increasing the value generated from the country’s mineral resources.
