Ban on export of raw lithium pays off

Zimbabwe’s first plant to process clean-energy metal lithium – of which it is Africa’s top producer – is up and running, a milestone in its expanding drive to stop the wholesale export of its raw mineral wealth, reports African Insider. Buoyed by the development, the small southern African country is determined to go much further in its drive for local processing of its resources, even eyeing its own production of rechargeable lithium batteries. It is part of a push by the country – and others on the continent – to add value domestically to raw materials to create jobs and lift export earnings. ‘We will no longer tolerate the raw exportation of our wealth. We would rather leave our valuable minerals underground than export them without processing them locally. The era of “horse and rider” investment relationships is over,’ President Emmerson Mnangagwa said earlier. In February, Zimbabwe froze exports of raw minerals ahead of a full ban in 2027, announcing it would require ‘in-country value addition and beneficiation’.