Mining ZimbabweLatest Mining News, Policy and Industry Updates

All roads lead to Magandi Park this Thursday as Mutapa Gold Resources prepares to honour the first cohort of 300 artisanal miners under its ambitious capacity-building programme targeting 1,500 Artisanal and Small-scale Miners (ASMs) across the country, Mining Zimbabwe can report.

By Rudairo Mapuranga

The graduation ceremony, scheduled for 30 April 2026, marks a pivotal step in efforts to formalise and professionalise Zimbabwe’s ASM sector, which now contributes nearly 75% of the nation’s gold output.

Mutapa Gold Resources, in partnership with Magaya Mining, launched the comprehensive capacity-building programme earlier this year. While 300 miners will receive their certificates on Thursday, an additional 1,200 are still undergoing training in safe mining techniques, environmental stewardship, mining legislation, financial literacy, and efficient ore processing.

The initiative directly addresses long-standing challenges in the ASM sub-sector: inadequate skills, poor safety records, environmental degradation, and limited access to formal markets. Upon graduation, miners gain a pathway to formalisation, which unlocks financing options and direct access to off-takers such as Fidelity Gold Refinery.

Chegutu has become a strategic hub for Mutapa Gold Resources’ ASM formalisation drive. The company is currently implementing a contract mining model at the historic Elvington Mine, where artisanal miners share production with Mutapa, ensuring inclusive and equitable resource extraction.

The partnership with Magaya Mining has already seen equipment, compressors, windlasses, and generators handed over to Chegutu’s artisanal miners in 2025, significantly improving safety and operational efficiency.

Mutapa Gold Resources is one of five specialised entities created following the restructuring of the Mutapa Investment Fund’s (MIF) mining portfolio in early 2026. Led by Trevor Barnard, the company controls key assets, including Freda Rebecca, Shamva, and Jena gold mines, and aims to triple consolidated gold production to over 300,000 ounces (nearly 10 tonnes) per annum within three to four years, backed by a US$200 million investment.

The company has also achieved IMS certification in ISO 45001:2018 (Occupational Health and Safety) and ISO 14001:2015 (Environmental Management), underlining its commitment to responsible mining.

Thursday’s graduation comes at a time when Zimbabwe’s ASM sector is surging. In 2025, ASM gold deliveries jumped 46.9% to 34,875 kg. For 2026, the Zimbabwe Miners Federation has set a 40-tonne target from ASMs alone.

Mutapa Gold Resources Appoints Patrick Maseva-Shayawabaya as CEO as Trevor Barnard Resigns

Mutapa Gold Resources (MGR) has announced a leadership transition, with Trevor Miles Barnard resigning as Chief Executive Officer, effective 1 May 2026. The Board has appointed Patrick Maseva-Shayawabaya as substantive CEO to lead the company forward.

By Rudairo Mapuranga

The changes were communicated in a memo dated 24 April 2026 from Board Chairman Charles Chikaura.

Trevor Barnard, who previously served as CEO of Kuvimba Mining House (KMH), played a significant role in strengthening KMH, as well as shaping MGR’s strategic direction, driving growth, and overseeing key projects, according to the board.

“On behalf of the Board, we would like to express our sincere appreciation to Trevor for his dedicated service and leadership during his tenure,” said Charles Chikaura. “The Board wishes Trevor every success in his future endeavours.”

Barnard’s resignation takes effect on 1 May 2026, just one day after Mutapa Gold Resources celebrates the graduation of 300 artisanal miners in Chegutu on 30 April.

Stepping into the CEO role is Patrick Maseva-Shayawabaya, who previously served as KMH Head of Gold Cluster and as Chief Finance Officer of Mutapa Gold Resources. The board described him as “well-suited to take the Company forward.”

“We wish Patrick well in this role, and we offer him all the support that he requires to take MGR forward,” the statement added.

Maseva-Shayawabaya’s appointment ensures continuity, given his deep familiarity with MGR’s finances and its gold cluster operations.

The board of Mutapa Gold Resources comprises C. Chikaura (Chairperson), V. Zifudzi (Vice-Chairperson), T. Barnard (outgoing CEO), P. Maseva-Shayawabaya (CFO and incoming CEO), along with G. Bema, C. Bird, E. Denhere, C. Meerholz, and A. Pascoe.

The leadership change comes at a pivotal moment for MGR, which is executing an ambitious expansion plan to triple gold production to over 300,000 ounces per annum, backed by a US$200 million investment at its Shamva and Jena mines. The company is also driving the formalisation of artisanal mining, with 300 miners set to graduate from its training programme this Thursday.

With Barnard’s departure and Maseva-Shayawabaya’s immediate assumption of the CEO role, industry observers expect a seamless transition. The new CEO inherits a company with strong operational momentum and a clear strategic direction.

Mutapa Gold Resources is one of five specialised commodity entities created following the restructuring of the Mutapa Investment Fund’s mining portfolio. Its commitment to safety, sustainability, and ASM formalisation remains unchanged under the new leadership.

To deepen regional integration, unlock intra-Africa trade, and position the private sector at the centre of Africa’s economic transformation, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Sheila Chikomo has reaffirmed that Statutory Instrument 5 of 2020, the ban on unbeneficiated raw material exports, remains a strategic tool to drive domestic value addition and industrial competitiveness.

By Rudairo Mapuranga

Delivering a keynote address at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) on behalf of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Professor Amon Murwira, Chikomo told delegates that Zimbabwe is moving decisively away from being a mere exporter of minerals to becoming a competitive supplier of high-value manufactured goods, with innovation promotion and industrial upgrading at the heart of National Development Strategy 2 (NDS 2).

“We are moving decisively away from being a mere exporter of raw materials to becoming a competitive exporter of high-value manufactured goods,” Chikomo said. “To support this transition, we are implementing Statutory Instrument 5 of 2020, a strategic ban on the export of unbeneficiated raw materials, ensuring that our natural resources drive domestic industrialisation and local value creation.”

The Deputy Minister emphasised that NDS 2, covering 2026 to 2030, prioritises value addition and beneficiation, alongside the strengthening of industrial competitiveness, promotion of innovation, and integration of Zimbabwean industries into regional and continental value chains, particularly under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

“By modernising our industries, enhancing productivity, promoting technology and production, and strengthening trade facilitation systems, we ensure that our economy contributes to the continental vision, producing goods that are competitive enough to meet the needs of a 1.3 billion population,” she said.

For the mining sector, the policy has direct operational consequences. Since SI 5 was gazetted in 2020, Zimbabwe has progressively restricted raw chrome, unprocessed lithium, and certain base metal ores. The 2023 lithium export ban triggered a wave of lithium hydroxide and spodumene processing investments in Fort Rixon, Bikita and Goromonzi, exactly the kind of domestic value addition the Deputy Minister champions.

While Chikomo did not detail operational mechanics, the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA) has consolidated 17 separate agency approvals into a single statutory window. Mining investors now obtain environmental impact assessments, mining titles, tax clearances, immigration permits, and utility connections under legislated turnaround times of 1 to 30 days, down from 9–12 months previously. The Deputy Minister described these institutional reforms as “a key pillar of our broader commitment to ease of doing business and to creating a predictable investment climate.”

Chikomo positioned Zimbabwe’s value-addition drive within the AfCFTA framework, noting that tariff-free access to 1.3 billion consumers makes beneficiated minerals—ferrochrome, nickel matte, lithium hydroxide, and copper cathodes—far more attractive than raw ore exports.

“By aligning our national policies with the AfCFTA framework, we are ensuring that Zimbabwean industries do not just produce for the local market but for the wider African market,” she said.

The Deputy Minister also called for regional collaboration on transport, energy, and digital infrastructure—critical enablers for mining supply chains. She reaffirmed the government’s Vision 2030 target of upper-middle-income status, noting that mining, which contributes 13% to GDP and 73% to export earnings, must play a leading role.

“We recognise that we cannot do this alone,” Chikomo said. “Through regional connectivity, industrial competitiveness, and strategic collaboration, the attainment of upper-middle-income status is reachable.”

In an effort to position micro, small and medium enterprises as the engine room of Zimbabwe’s green energy transition, Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Minister Senator Monica Mutsvangwa has declared that the country’s lithium reserves, the largest in Africa, offer a strategic opportunity for MSMEs to actively participate in the global electric vehicle supply chain under the African Continental Free Trade Area.

By Rudairo Mapuranga

Speaking at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair, the Minister told delegates that Zimbabwe can “strategically position itself within the green energy revolution, becoming a hub where our MSMEs actively participate and benefit under the AfCFTA framework.”

“We have one of the largest reserves of lithium in the world,” Mutsvangwa said, pointing to the mineral’s critical role in battery storage and electric vehicle manufacturing.

Attributing the surge in gold production to President Mnangagwa’s policies, the Minister said the same formula—creating an enabling environment for small-scale operators—must be applied to lithium and other green minerals.

“Zimbabwe is on record production of gold. This only happened when the President created an environment where small and medium enterprises in mining could thrive,” Mutsvangwa said. “Today, 60 percent of the gold, which is expected to be more than 50 tonnes a year, is coming from SMEs.”

For lithium, a similar formalisation pathway could bring thousands of artisanal lithium diggers, currently operating on the fringes of large-scale mining concessions, into the regulated value chain, as the Minister’s framing implicitly suggests.

Official data confirm Zimbabwe’s lithium reserves at an estimated 126 million metric tonnes, ranking the country sixth globally, trailing only Australia, Chile, Argentina, China and Brazil. Bikita Minerals alone holds proven reserves estimated at 1.7 million tonnes of lithium oxide, while the Sandawana Mine in Mberengwa has emerged as one of the world’s highest-grade lithium pegmatite deposits.

The Minister’s focus on SME lithium participation aligns with Statutory Instrument 5 of 2020, which bans unbeneficiated raw ore exports. The policy has already catalysed major investments in lithium hydroxide conversion plants in Fort Rixon, Bikita and Goromonzi, positioning Zimbabwe as a future supplier of battery-grade materials for the electric vehicle supply chain.

Mutsvangwa stressed that large-scale mining operations must create deliberate supply chain linkages that extend beyond exclusive contracts with established suppliers.

“Large-scale investors create opportunities for supply chains, subcontracting, skills transfer and broader market access. What is needed is a deliberate linkage model that connects big producers to MSMEs so that industrial growth does not remain concentrated in a few places but spreads across the country and reaches rural communities,” she said.

The Minister identified specialised functions that could be outsourced to trained SMEs, including manufacturing and fabrication, logistics and transport, maintenance and component production, as well as assembly and packaging operations.

The Minister pointed to the Manhize Dinson Iron and Steel Company as an example of how large-scale industry can drive SME growth, noting that cheaper domestic steel allows local metal fabricators to retain more profit. To participate in formal supply chains, Mutsvangwa said MSMEs must meet industry standards, highlighting the importance of certification by the Standards Association of Zimbabwe.

The Minister acknowledged that access to finance remains the single largest barrier to SME growth, noting that the Zimbabwe Women’s Microfinance Bank requires recapitalisation. She also pointed to emerging digital technologies, including Starlink and Chinese satellite mobile phone services, as critical enablers for rural enterprises, alongside the COMESA Simplified Trade Regime for cross-border trade.

Mutsvangwa framed these industrial linkages within the context of the AfCFTA, which she noted opens access to a market of over 1.3 billion people with a combined GDP exceeding US$3.4 trillion. Through the Ministry’s partnership with ZimTrade and support from UNDP and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, nationwide capacity-building programmes on AfCFTA opportunities have been rolled out.

In the last year, the Ministry supported Zimbabwean entrepreneurs to participate in expos in Botswana, Malawi, Equatorial Guinea, Tanzania and Zambia.

GOROMONZI – Arcadia Technology Zimbabwe has exported the continent’s first lithium sulphate, a milestone that shifts the country from a raw concentrate supplier to a producer of a higher-value battery material, Mining Zimbabwe can report.

By Rudairo Mapuranga

The US$400 million plant, owned by Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt’s Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe, dispatched its inaugural shipment this week, the company said in a statement. The facility is designed to produce about 80,000 metric tonnes of lithium sulphate a year, a precursor for lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles and energy storage systems.

“This is more than just a shipment; it is a testament to Zimbabwe’s innovation and Africa’s growing role in the global energy transition,” Henry Zhu, PLZ’s general manager, said.

The shipment marks the first lithium salt ever produced in Zimbabwe and Africa, according to the company. Until now, the country only exported spodumene concentrate.

The government has made local processing a cornerstone of its mining policy. On 25 February 2026, Harare suspended all raw lithium concentrate exports, accelerating a deadline originally set for 2027. Six large-scale producers were later granted export quotas under strict conditions, including building processing plants.

Arcadia is the first to move from concentrate to chemical conversion. The plant will more than double the value of lithium exports per tonne, aligning with President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s goal of becoming an upper-middle-income economy by 2030.

Zimbabwe holds Africa’s largest lithium reserves, accounting for about 10% of global mined supply. However, the country has historically captured only about 7% of export value in royalties due to under-declaration and transfer pricing.

The Arcadia project is part of a wave of downstream investment. Sinomine Bikita commissioned a caesium flotation plant in August 2025, and Kamativi Mining is building a tin, tantalum, and niobium recovery system due for completion in September 2026.

Huayou has invested more than US$1 billion in the Arcadia mine and processing plant, making it one of the largest Chinese-backed lithium ventures in Africa. The company expects full production later this year, with most output destined for Asian battery makers seeking diversified supply chains.

The government has said the export ban will be “softly lifted” for compliant producers. Arcadia’s commissioning puts it at the front of the queue for quota allocations, while less advanced miners remain constrained until they build their own plants or secure tolling agreements.