Kamativi Mining Company (KMC) has urged policymakers to take individual mine economics and resource life into account when implementing Zimbabwe’s beneficiation policies, warning that ambitious processing requirements must be matched by the geological realities of each operation, Mining Zimbabwe can report.
By Rudairo Mapuranga
KMC Chief Operating Officer Turkey Liang made the remarks while appearing before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Mining Development, chaired by Hon. Remigious Matangira, during the committee’s fact-finding visit to the company’s Kamativi operation.
Liang said KMC fully supports the Government’s drive to end the export of unprocessed minerals and increase value addition, but cautioned that mines do not have identical resource profiles and therefore may not have the same capacity to sustain large-scale processing investments.
“We fully understand and firmly support the policy direction,” Liang said, “but a decision should be made first of all on the basis of a comprehensive study of each mine’s resource position.”
The comments highlight a key challenge facing Zimbabwe’s beneficiation strategy: ensuring that mandatory local processing creates sustainable value without imposing investments that may be difficult to justify over the life of a particular mineral resource.
Kamativi’s geological profile is central to the company’s concerns.
The former tin mine, which ceased production in 1994 after 58 years of operation, has since been revived as a lithium operation. KMC’s current mining plan faces a high stripping ratio and increasingly limited surface resources, with Liang telling the committee that open-pit reserves are expected to support approximately five years of mining.
He said the broader lithium resource at the current mining depths could support operations for about 10 years, after which further extraction would become more technically challenging and potentially require underground mining.
The distinction is important for a company investing heavily in downstream processing. A processing plant requires a reliable supply of feedstock over a sufficiently long period to justify its capital cost.
KMC’s resource estimate, updated in May 2024, places its indicated mineral resource at about 24.2 million tonnes grading 1.25 per cent Li₂O. The company has been developing additional processing capacity as it seeks to capture more value from the resource.
Despite the resource concerns, KMC is moving ahead with major downstream investments.
The company is developing a lithium sulphate project with an investment of about US$200 million. The project is designed to process spodumene concentrate into lithium sulphate, with planned production of about 75,000 tonnes a year and commissioning targeted for July 2027.
The development is part of Zimbabwe’s broader push to move beyond the export of lithium concentrates and capture more value domestically. KMC’s project has also been cited as an example of the country’s drive to establish a local lithium processing chain.
For KMC, however, the question is not whether beneficiation should take place, but how the policy can be implemented in a way that reflects the realities of individual mining operations.
KMC is also pursuing further recovery of minerals contained in its pegmatite resource.
The company is developing a Tin-Niobium-Tantalum Separation Project as well as an Amblygonite Concentrate Separation Project. An additional tin, niobium, and tantalum recovery system is scheduled for commissioning in September 2026.
The projects are intended to improve recovery of minerals beyond lithium and potentially increase the economic value extracted from the same resource.
The Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance has also identified KMC’s proposed lithium sulphate, tin-tantalum-niobium recovery, and amblygonite separation projects as part of its assessment of the Kamativi operation.
Alongside geological constraints, Liang told the committee that regulatory and administrative delays have created operational difficulties.
He cited changes in Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) export documentation requirements, saying a shift from a system allowing one document to cover up to 50 trucks to a requirement for individual paperwork for each truck created significant delays.
The problem was particularly severe where officials lacked sufficient personnel and printing capacity to process the increased volume of documentation.
“In March this year, because of this policy change, we were running out of cash and planning to reduce production,” Liang said.
ZIMRA has since reverted to the previous 50-truck arrangement, according to Liang.
The episode illustrates another challenge for mining companies investing in capital-intensive processing projects: while geological and market risks are inherent to mining, sudden administrative changes can also affect cash flow and production decisions.
Zimbabwe’s beneficiation drive is designed to retain more mineral value inside the country by encouraging or requiring producers to establish domestic processing capacity. The lithium sector has already committed significant capital to processing projects, with KMC among the companies developing lithium sulphate capacity.
KMC’s experience, however, suggests that the success of the policy will depend not only on the construction of processing plants but also on whether those facilities have sufficient and economically viable mineral feedstock over their operating lives.
For policymakers, that creates a delicate balance: pushing miners towards higher levels of value addition while ensuring that investment decisions remain commercially and geologically sustainable.
Liang’s message to Parliament was therefore not a rejection of beneficiation, but a call for a more tailored approach — one that considers the size, grade, mine life, extraction method, and economics of individual mineral deposits before determining the scale and pace of downstream investment.
