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The Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA) is shifting its focus towards ensuring that investment commitments translate into operating businesses as it develops a new strategy for its next phase, Mining Zimbabwe can report.

By Ryan Chigoche

This was reviewed by the agency at a stakeholder engagement meeting held in the capital today as part of its strategy review.

The move will see the agency place greater emphasis on the experience of investors after they enter the investment pipeline, with ZIDA consulting investors, government institutions, business organisations and development partners on the practical bottlenecks that can delay projects from moving from approval to implementation.

The review comes as ZIDA continues to record strong investor interest. The agency approved 184 new investment licences in the second quarter of 2026, representing about US$1.59 billion in projected investment, with mining accounting for US$768.5 million and manufacturing for US$496.7 million.

While the figures point to a sizeable pipeline of potential capital, the value attached to approved licences does not necessarily mean the money has already been deployed. The next challenge, therefore, is ensuring that projects progress from approval to construction, production and eventual expansion.

Speaking at the meeting, ZIDA chief executive Tafadzwa Chinamo said this was increasingly how the agency needed to assess its performance.

“Success cannot end with generating investor interest or issuing an investment licence,” Chinamo said.

“The question for the next phase of ZIDA is not only: How much investment can we attract? It must increasingly be: How effectively are we converting investment interest into productive enterprises?”

That shift would broaden ZIDA’s role beyond attracting investors and issuing licences to following the entire investment journey, from initial enquiry and facilitation through establishment, implementation, expansion and reinvestment.

The change is particularly relevant to mining, which accounted for almost half of the projected investment value approved in the second quarter. Large mining developments typically require substantial capital and lengthy development periods before production begins, while financing, infrastructure, regulatory approvals and other requirements can influence the pace at which projects advance.

Infrastructure is one of the wider issues that can determine whether investment commitments become productive assets. Zimbabwe is exploring mineral-backed financing arrangements to support roads and rail development, while the African Development Bank has estimated that the country needs about US$34 billion to modernise its transport and logistics networks.

Against that backdrop, Chinamo said ZIDA could not develop its next strategy in isolation. The agency wants investors and other stakeholders to identify where its processes are working, where they are creating bottlenecks and what interventions are needed to make the investment process more effective.

Not all of those constraints fall within ZIDA’s mandate, he said, meaning the agency would also need to work with other institutions where problems lie elsewhere in the investment ecosystem.

That wider coordination is important because an investment licence is only one stage in bringing a project into operation. For projects requiring land, power, transport infrastructure, financing and multiple regulatory approvals, delays in any part of the process can affect the timing of implementation.

ZIDA therefore wants the consultation to produce more than a list of recommendations. Chinamo said stakeholder input should be translated into clear strategic priorities, practical interventions, institutional responsibilities and measurable commitments.

“We want the next strategy to respond to real investor experiences and practical challenges, rather than simply reflecting our internal assessment of what the Agency should do,” he said.

The agency is also asking stakeholders to identify what ZIDA should continue doing, improve, stop doing or approach differently, as well as new interventions that should form part of the next strategy.

The review comes as ZIDA looks to place more weight on what happens after an investor makes a commitment, including whether projects move ahead and begin operating.

Chinamo said the agency wanted the new strategy to help close the gap between investment commitments and projects on the ground.

SADC’s ability to extract greater value from its critical mineral wealth will depend less on what individual countries possess and more on how their resources, infrastructure and industrial capabilities can be combined across borders, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Zimbabwe Country Representative Innocent Madziva has said.

By Rudairo Mapuranga

Madziva made the remarks at the Zimbabwe Alternative Mining Indaba (ZAMI) 2026 in Bulawayo while responding to a question on the areas that should be prioritised under a proposed SADC Critical Minerals Hub.

He said countries pursuing mineral-led industrialisation independently risk limiting the scale and depth of the manufacturing industries they can develop, arguing instead for regional value chains built around complementary national capabilities.

“What we have also observed in SADC is that SADC’s competitive advantage lies not in any single country but in the complementarity of its regional endowment and capabilities,” Madziva said.

“It’s not really what we have, but we need to really look to what we can do.”

His argument shifts the focus from the size of individual countries’ mineral deposits to the ability of the region to connect extraction with processing, manufacturing, energy, skills, infrastructure and markets.

Madziva said international experience showed that countries with substantial natural-resource endowments can nevertheless struggle to develop manufacturing capacity.

“What we found in general is that countries with large levels of natural resources have lower than expected levels of manufacturing in their individual capacity,” he said.

For SADC, he suggested that regional integration could provide a route to overcome some of those limitations by allowing countries to specialise in different stages of the same value chain rather than attempting to establish complete industries independently.

Battery Minerals and Precursor Chemicals

Madziva identified battery minerals as one of the areas where regional cooperation could generate significant value.

Rather than immediately attempting to manufacture finished batteries across the region, he pointed to the processing of minerals into chemicals and other intermediate products as a more achievable stage of the value chain.

He cited lithium processing in Zimbabwe as an example of the type of intermediate processing that could form part of a wider regional industrialisation strategy.

“This is the industry that we can feel,” he said, while discussing the opportunities presented by battery minerals.

The wider SADC region contains major deposits of minerals associated with the energy transition, including lithium, cobalt, copper, nickel, manganese and platinum-group metals. The challenge for governments is increasingly shifting from attracting investment into extraction alone to establishing processing and manufacturing capacity closer to the source of the minerals.

For Madziva, that process would be strengthened if countries viewed their mineral industries as interconnected rather than as separate national projects.

Green Steel and Ferroalloys

He also identified green steel and ferroalloys as another area with potential for regional value capture.

The opportunity, according to Madziva, lies in combining the different mineral, energy and industrial capabilities available across countries such as Zimbabwe, South Africa and Mozambique.

The concept is particularly relevant as international markets increasingly place greater emphasis on the carbon intensity of industrial products.

For SADC producers, the availability of mineral resources alone will therefore not be sufficient. The region will also need reliable energy, modern processing technology, infrastructure and access to markets if it is to compete in lower-carbon industrial value chains.

Regional cooperation could allow countries to combine these capabilities rather than duplicating the same infrastructure and processing capacity in multiple jurisdictions.

Linking Minerals to Agriculture

Madziva also highlighted agro-minerals as an important value chain, particularly because of their connection to food production.

“We must not forget that the agro-minerals development is not just about minerals,” he said.

He pointed to the potential for processing phosphate resources into fertiliser and agricultural inputs, linking mineral development with food security and agro-industrial development.

The argument places mineral beneficiation within a broader economic framework, where the value generated from mineral resources can support other productive sectors rather than remaining concentrated in extraction and exports.

For a region that continues to import significant quantities of agricultural inputs, greater local processing of suitable mineral resources could potentially create links between the mining and agricultural economies.

Beyond National Projects

Madziva’s intervention comes as governments across Africa seek to capture more value from critical minerals amid growing global demand for materials used in batteries, renewable-energy technologies and other industrial applications.

The issue for SADC is not simply whether individual countries have the minerals required by global industries, but whether the region can build the industrial ecosystem needed to process those minerals competitively.

That includes power generation, transport corridors, technical skills, research and development, processing facilities, financing and access to regional and international markets.

A regional approach could also reduce the risk of countries separately attempting to establish similar processing facilities without sufficient feedstock, infrastructure or market scale.

The proposed Critical Minerals Hub discussed at ZAMI therefore comes against a wider debate about how SADC can move from being predominantly a supplier of raw materials towards becoming a participant in higher-value stages of mineral supply chains.

Madziva’s emphasis was that this transition would require countries to identify where their individual strengths fit within regional production systems.

His three priority areas — battery-mineral processing and chemicals, green steel and ferroalloys, and agro-mineral value chains — provide possible entry points for that approach.

The broader challenge, however, is translating regional complementarity into commercially viable projects capable of operating across national borders.

Madziva, who has served as UNIDO Zimbabwe Country Representative since June 2025, previously held senior government positions covering industrial development, investment promotion and economic policy. He has more than two decades of experience in industrial development, investment promotion, economic policy and national development planning.

His remarks at ZAMI placed the emphasis firmly on regional cooperation as SADC considers how to convert its mineral endowment into industrial capacity and greater value capture.

ZAMI 2026 is being held in Bulawayo from 14–18 September under the theme “Powering Tomorrow: Reimagining Mining, Energy, Agriculture and Community Development in Zimbabwe.” The Indaba is convened by the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Organisation (ZELO), the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) and the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD).

Caledonia Mining has challenged international investor perceptions of Zimbabwe, arguing that the risks of operating in the country are overstated as it advances its US$600 million Bilboes gold project, Mining Zimbabwe can report.

By Ryan Chigoche

The London-listed gold producer, which has operated in Zimbabwe for two decades, used its capital markets presentation in New York to make the case that its experience navigating the country’s regulations, bureaucracy and foreign-exchange arrangements gives it a different perspective on the investment environment.

“Our long-term strategy is that we are 100% focused on Zim,” Caledonia Vice-President for Corporate Development Maurice Mason said at the presentation.

“We are experts operating in Zim and we think the country’s risk is significantly mispriced.”

For Caledonia, the argument is rooted in experience.

After 20 years of operating in Zimbabwe, the company believes it has developed an understanding of the systems that can make investment difficult for newcomers, allowing it to identify opportunities where international investors may see uncertainty.

That view is now being tested through Bilboes, a major gold development expected to produce about 200,000 ounces annually from 2029.

The project forms part of Caledonia’s strategy to expand its Zimbabwe operations and is being financed through a US$150 million seven-year convertible bond raised earlier this year.

Demand from US institutional investors exceeded US$600 million, providing a significant vote of confidence from international capital markets for a company whose growth strategy is concentrated in Zimbabwe.

The financing also underscores the distinction Caledonia is drawing between perceptions of country risk and the practical experience of operating in the country.

For Chief Executive Mark Learmonth, familiarity with Zimbabwe’s administrative processes has become an important part of the company’s operating model.

“There is a bureaucracy to go through to do things,” Learmonth said at the presentation.

“That’s simply just making sure that you press the right buttons in the right order.”

Caledonia was “very, very good at that” after years in the country, he said.

“It’s just process, it’s not an obstacle.”

The comments reflect the company’s view that Zimbabwe’s operating environment can be more manageable for miners with established local knowledge.

For an international investor assessing the country from outside, regulation and bureaucracy may appear as significant barriers to investment.

For Caledonia, those same processes are part of an environment it has spent years learning to navigate.

The company’s experience also extends to the movement of capital equipment.

Learmonth said Zimbabwean authorities had helped Caledonia move about US$15 million of equipment for Blanket Mine’s solar project through the border.

For a company developing a project of Bilboes’ scale, the ability to secure approvals and move equipment is an important part of the investment environment.

But Caledonia’s assessment of Zimbabwe also rests on the nature of its gold business.

Bilboes Chief Executive Victor Gapare, who has operated in Zimbabwe since 1987 and previously served as president of the Chamber of Mines, said Caledonia had never struggled to get money out of Zimbabwe because it received US dollars from its gold sales.

That exposure gives the company a different position from producers whose revenues and foreign-exchange arrangements have created more complicated cash-access challenges.

Zimbabwe’s foreign-currency retention system requires miners to surrender 30% of their dollar earnings into local currency.

Access to the local-currency equivalent has been a longstanding concern for mining companies, particularly those producing platinum-group metals.

Caledonia’s gold revenue structure and established operating relationships provide a different experience from producers that have faced delays accessing export proceeds.

The distinction is important to the company’s investment case.

Caledonia is not arguing that Zimbabwe’s broader foreign-exchange challenges have disappeared. Rather, it believes its gold revenue model and operating experience allow it to manage risks that may weigh more heavily on other investors.

That perspective has shaped the company’s decision to remain focused on Zimbabwe.

The Bilboes project is expected to produce about 200,000 ounces of gold annually from 2029, significantly expanding Caledonia’s Zimbabwe operations and placing the development at the centre of its growth strategy.

Its financing also points to continued international interest in Zimbabwe-linked mining opportunities, despite the country’s longstanding investment concerns.

The US$150 million convertible bond, backed by demand exceeding US$600 million, has provided Caledonia with capital to advance the project while making the case that Zimbabwe exposure does not automatically exclude a company from international funding markets.

For Caledonia, the question is not simply whether Zimbabwe carries risk, but how that risk is understood and managed.

The Mashonaland Central’s Ministry of Mines and Mining Development has directed small-scale and medium-scale miners holding blocks registered before 2001 to submit cleared survey-grade coordinates as part of a Cadastre Land Folio upload clearance exercise, Mining Zimbabwe can report.

By Rudairo Mapuranga

The exercise will run from 14 September to 2 October 2026, according to a notice issued by the Ministry.

Deputy Director of Communication in the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, Wilfred Munetsi, confirmed that the notice circulating among miners is authentic.

“The attached notice is an authentic Mines Initiative requiring small- and medium-scale miners with blocks registered before 2001 to submit cleared survey-grade coordinates for cadastral land folio upload clearance, effective 14 September to 2 October 2026,” Munetsi said.

According to the notice, affected miners are required to submit the survey-grade coordinates through either a Claims Administrator or Claim Holder.

“All small-scale and medium-scale miners with blocks that were registered before 2001 are required to bring cleared survey-grade coordinates for the Cadastre Land Folio upload clearance as from 14/09/2026 to 02/10/2026,” the notice states.

The Ministry did not, in the notice, provide further details on why blocks registered before 2001 have been specifically targeted or the implications for miners who fail to submit the required coordinates within the stipulated period.

The directive comes as mining authorities continue to place greater emphasis on the accuracy and management of mining title information, with cadastral records playing a central role in identifying and administering mining claims.

However, the notice does not state whether the exercise forms part of a wider digitisation or clean-up of historical mining records, nor does it specify the consequences of failing to meet the October 2 deadline.

The Ministry has also not indicated in the notice whether the exercise will subsequently be extended to mining blocks registered after 2001.

Affected small-scale and medium-scale miners have therefore been urged to take note of the deadline and engage their Claims Administrators or the relevant Ministry offices for the requirements applicable to their blocks.

Zimbabwe spent about US$259 million on mineral fuels and mineral oils in July, making energy products the biggest component of the country’s US$1.15 billion import bill and underscoring the cost of powering an economy seeking to expand mining and industry, Mining Zimbabwe can report.

By Ryan Chigoche

Mineral fuels, mineral oils and products accounted for 22.5% of total imports during the month, ahead of machinery and mechanical appliances at 14.5%, according to data from the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency.

The figures come as Zimbabwe pushes to raise mineral output and process more of its resources locally, a strategy that will require more power and fuel across mines, processing plants and transport networks.

That dependence on imported energy also puts the country’s emerging domestic gas industry into focus. Invictus Energy is exploring gas and condensate resources in the Cabora Bassa Basin, raising the prospect of a locally sourced energy supply if the resources can be proven commercial.

For Zimbabwe, the potential prize extends beyond replacing part of the import bill. Domestic gas could provide an additional source of energy for power generation and industry at a time when electricity supply remains a constraint on investment and production.

Invictus is preparing to drill the Musuma-1 exploration well in November as it advances its assessment of the basin. The company has also identified gas-to-power as a potential commercialisation route, including a proposed pilot project linked to Eureka Gold Mine.

A successful gas development could eventually reduce some demand for imported energy, although it would not directly replace all of the products captured under the mineral fuels and mineral oils category. Petrol and diesel used by vehicles, mining equipment and generators would continue to require their own supply chains.

The distinction matters because the US$259 million figure covers energy products imported across the economy, rather than fuel consumed by the mining industry alone.

Mining is nevertheless an important part of the equation. Zimbabwe is targeting higher production of gold, platinum-group metals, lithium and other minerals, while investment is also moving towards processing and beneficiation.

Those activities are energy-intensive. Diesel is used extensively in open-pit operations, haulage and mobile equipment, while processing plants depend on reliable electricity to maintain production.

The country’s ability to secure affordable energy is therefore becoming increasingly tied to its ambitions to attract capital into new mines and downstream processing.

For now, the July trade data shows the size of the bill Zimbabwe is paying to meet its energy requirements from abroad.

The development of domestic gas offers a potential way to ease that dependence, but the scale of any benefit will ultimately depend on exploration results, commercial viability and the infrastructure needed to bring the resources to market.

The immediate figure is clear: at roughly US$259 million, mineral fuels and mineral oils alone accounted for more than a fifth of Zimbabwe’s imports in July.