Zimbabwe has granted lithium export quotas to six operating mines in the country.
Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Dr. Polite Kambamura, confirmed the development while clarifying that the February export ban has been “softly lifted” under strict conditions designed to protect existing investments and weed out unethical behaviour.
The Minister elaborated on the new export regime, emphasising that the era of unrestricted exports is over.
“We came up with 11 conditions for the lithium producers, and government can now give them export quotas,” Kambamura said. “They can no longer export freely what they think they can export, in terms of volume, tonnage, export consignments, and so forth.”
However, he clarified that full export access will only resume after key beneficiation milestones are met.
“We can only fully open this after 1 January 2027. So for now, we are giving them export quotas, the rationale being to avoid disruptions associated with resource depletion while beneficiation facilities are being established, as expected by government.”
This is a developing story
