CAPE TOWN – Zimbabwe will commission Africa’s first lithium sulphate processing plant within the next month, with two additional facilities set to come online by the end of next year, positioning the country as the continent’s undisputed leader in critical minerals beneficiation, Mining Zimbabwe can report.
By Rudairo Mapuranga
Speaking at the Mutapa Mining Indaba Symposium in Cape Town, Minister of Mines and Mining Development Hon. Dr. Polite Kambamura delivered a historic announcement that drew sustained applause from the international investment community.
“Next month or so, we’ll be commissioning Africa’s first lithium sulphate plant. That’s Zimbabwe,” the Minister declared.
He then outlined an unprecedented beneficiation pipeline. “Next year, we’ll be commissioning another lithium plant. That will be the second. The next year, we’ll be commissioning another third lithium sulphate plant, which means Zimbabwe will be having three lithium sulphate plants commissioned in a row, the only ones in Africa,” he said.
The First Plant: Arcadia Technology Zimbabwe
The first of these three facilities, Arcadia Technology Zimbabwe, is owned by Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe (PLZ), a subsidiary of Chinese lithium giant Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt. Construction of the US$400 million plant in Goromonzi, Mashonaland East Province, is now complete and awaiting commissioning in the first quarter of 2026.
The facility is designed to produce 50,000 to 60,000 tonnes of lithium sulphate per annum and will more than double export earnings compared to raw concentrate shipments. The plant comprises three production lines, each with a feed of 500,000 tonnes per annum of concentrate, with the first line scheduled for January 2026 and subsequent lines in April 2026.
Total investment by Huayou Cobalt in Zimbabwe’s lithium value chain now stands at US$1.1 billion, encompassing the Arcadia mining operation, the concentrator commissioned in 2023, and this new sulphate processing facility.
The plant is expected to generate US$320 million in annual revenue and create over 1,000 jobs.
The Second Plant: Sinomine’s Bikita
The second lithium sulphate plant confirmed by the Minister aligns with publicly announced plans by Sinomine, which acquired Bikita Minerals in 2022. The company has committed US$500 million to construct a lithium sulphate processing facility at its operations in Masvingo Province.
This facility will position Sinomine alongside Huayou Cobalt as the vanguard of Zimbabwe’s beneficiation drive, with commissioning anticipated within the Minister’s “next year” timeline.
The Third Plant: Awaiting Confirmation
While the Minister’s reference to a third lithium sulphate plant commissioning at the “end of next year” demonstrates the accelerating momentum of Zimbabwe’s beneficiation drive, specific details regarding this facility remain to be formally announced. The pipeline of advanced lithium projects in the country, including Mutapa Energy Minerals’ Sandawana development (currently targeting concentrate production, with downstream processing to follow) and the Kamativi Mining Company operation, suggests multiple potential candidates capable of stepping up to sulphate production.
What is beyond dispute is the Minister’s central thesis: Zimbabwe will possess three operational lithium sulphate facilities, a feat unmatched anywhere else in Africa.
Beyond Sulphate: The Road to Carbonate and Batteries
Minister Kambamura made it clear that lithium sulphate is not the final destination. “We are not going to be ending there. We are going to go for further validation and beneficiation for lithium,” he said.
He explicitly confirmed the next frontier: “We are looking forward to further beneficiating our lithium to lithium carbonate, which is budgeted for.”
This trajectory aligns with Zimbabwe’s Mines to Energy Park initiative, targeting completion by 2027 at Mapinga, where the country aims to produce complete lithium batteries utilising domestic lithium for cathodes and graphite for anodes.
“If we manage to bridge the energy deficit, who knows, we’ll still be there,” the Minister added.
Zimbabwe is already Africa’s largest lithium producer, having led continental production in 2024. Exports of spodumene concentrate reached 586,197 tonnes in the first half of 2025, a 29.7% increase year-on-year.
The transition from concentrate to sulphate represents a revenue multiplication of five to seven times per tonne of raw material processed, with corresponding increases in employment, fiscal contributions, and foreign currency retention.
Yet the Minister’s Cape Town address was not merely a technical briefing. It was a declaration of national industrial arrival, delivered with the evident satisfaction of a man who has watched a multi-billion-dollar vision translate into cranes on the skyline, pipelines of product, and now, a commissioning schedule that leaves the rest of the continent looking up.
And with three sulphate plants in the pipeline, Africa’s first lithium battery manufacturer may not be far behind.
