{"id":7613,"date":"2026-01-06T17:16:27","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T17:16:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/7613\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T17:16:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T17:16:27","slug":"zimbabwe-to-ban-export-of-lithium-concentrates-from-2027","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/7613\/","title":{"rendered":"Zimbabwe to ban export of lithium concentrates from 2027"},"content":{"rendered":"

HARARE, June 10 (Reuters) – Zimbabwe will ban the export of lithium concentrates from 2027 as it extends its push for more local processing, mines minister Winston Chitando said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Africa’s top producer of lithium, used in batteries to power renewable energy technologies, banned the export<\/a> of lithium ore in 2022 and has been pushing miners to process more domestically.<\/p>\n

Sign up here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Lithium miners in Zimbabwe, who are mostly from China, have been exporting concentrates to their home country.<\/p>\n

Chitando said lithium sulphate plants were currently being developed at two Zimbabwean mines, Bikita Minerals, owned by Sinomine (002738.SZ), opens new tab<\/a> and Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe, owned by Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt (603799.SS), opens new tab<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lithium sulphate is an intermediate product which can be refined into a battery-grade material such as lithium hydroxide or lithium carbonate used in battery manufacturing.<\/p>\n

“Because of that capacity which is now in the country, the export of all lithium concentrates will be banned from January 2027,” Chitando said during a media briefing following a weekly cabinet meeting.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Zimbabwe gave lithium miners up to March 2024<\/a> to submit plans for developing local refineries, but softened its stance<\/a> after prices of the metal collapsed.Sinomine and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt are part of a group of Chinese firms, including Chengxin Lithium Group (002240.SZ), opens new tab<\/a> Yahua Group (002497.SZ), opens new tab<\/a> and Canmax Technologies (300390.SZ), opens new tab<\/a>, which have spent more than $1 billion since 2021 to acquire and develop lithium projects in Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n

Reporting by Nelson Banya; Editing by David Goodman and Jan Harvey<\/p>\n

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab<\/a><\/p>\n

Purchase Licensing Rights<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HARARE, June 10 (Reuters) – Zimbabwe will ban the export of lithium concentrates from 2027 as it extends…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[60],"tags":[488,2096,4590,5352,5353,1877,5354,5355,5361,3859,1762,4893,1597,4886,4887,3814,5356,1783,698,710,703,702,707,701,709,704,708,706,713,1775,715,495,1787,1786,1784,1788,1782,699,711,5360,492,4892,5357,491,493,1592,1144,1598,1593,1594,714,690,4888,4889,4890,1881,1882,1883,5358,1884,2528,5359,4891,1595,695,4023,1766,5350,5349,5348,4017,1590,2524,5351,4960,106,2533],"class_list":["post-7613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-zimbabwe","tag-afr","tag-asia","tag-asxpac","tag-aut","tag-auto","tag-bmat","tag-bmat08","tag-carm","tag-cdty","tag-chem","tag-cmpny","tag-cn","tag-com","tag-comc","tag-comc1","tag-cycs","tag-cycs08","tag-destabn","tag-destabx","tag-destafn","tag-destbnx","tag-destc","tag-destdnp","tag-deste","tag-destfun","tag-destgro","tag-destmtl","tag-desto","tag-destoil","tag-destousnrg","tag-destozabsm","tag-destozatpm","tag-destpco","tag-destpen","tag-destpsc","tag-destrbn","tag-destrnp","tag-destsof","tag-destucdptest","tag-destz","tag-eafr","tag-easia","tag-eleav","tag-emea","tag-emrg","tag-ener","tag-energy","tag-enff","tag-eng","tag-enr","tag-fin","tag-gen","tag-lith","tag-memi","tag-memi1","tag-metl","tag-min","tag-mine","tag-mine08","tag-minmtl","tag-mtal","tag-mtal08","tag-nferpr","tag-nrg","tag-pol","tag-prod","tag-publ","tag-ratielectrification-zero-emmision","tag-ratiregulatory-policy","tag-ratisustainable-ev-supply-chain","tag-repitransport-fuels","tag-topicmarkets-commodities-energy","tag-topicmarkets-commodities-metals","tag-topicrati-supply-chain-manufacturing","tag-trd","tag-zimbabwe","tag-zw"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}