Zimbabwe rakes in US$20 billion in mineral exports
The Zimbabwe mining industry in the last five years realized a total of US$20 billion from mineral exports, the Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Hon Zhemu Soda, announced.
Rudairo Mapuranga
Speaking at the Kamativi Mining Company (KMC)‘s spodumene mine and phase one processing plant official commissioning by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Minister Soda said Zimbabwe’s mining industry is without a doubt a key industry that contributes significantly to the country’s Gross Domestic Product.
“A cumulative of more than USD 20 billion has also been realized from the export of various minerals that include gold, platinum, and lithium from 2018 to date. It is pleasing to announce that despite the regulations that were instituted to control the export of lithium minerals in Zimbabwe, the stakeholders in the subsector were able to surpass their set target for exports,” Minister Soda said.
In 2023, according to Minister Soda, lithium exports, despite the US$12 billion vision by 2023, stimulating that lithium will fetch half a billion annually, the lithium sector realized US$600 million in exports.
“Lithium exports were set at half a billion US dollars but a total of over USD 600 million was realized from the export of Spodumene, Petalite, and Lepidolite despite export bans that were effected in 2023, underscoring the importance of these lithium minerals to our economy,” Minister Soda said.
According to Hon. Soda, the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development will continue to work on strategies to help the country realize more gains from its mineral resources. These strategies include coming up with Special Purpose Vehicles for mineral exploration, new mine openings, re-capacitation of dormant mines, expansion of current mining projects, curbing mineral leakages, increased capacity utilization, and ultimately value addition and beneficiation across the whole sector.