Zimbabwe is set to begin local lithium sulphate production following the completion of a $400m processing plant by one of the country’s largest lithium producers, Prospect Lithium.
Africa’s top lithium producer, Zimbabwe 🇿🇼 has been pushing for miners to process the mineral locally to add more opportunities and value to its economy.
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.
The Southern African nation will be producing its first lithium sulphate from the new plant by the opening months of 2026.
The plant is located at Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe’s Arcadia mine in Goromonzi and is operated by China’s Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt.
It has the capacity to process 50,000 metric tonnes of lithium sulphate annually.
Speaking to reporters during a tour of the facility, the General Manager of Prospect Lithium, Henry Zhu said the average lithium sulphate production at the plant will exceed 60,000 metric tonnes annually.
“We will start the first line from the beginning of next year, and another two from the second quarter. The quantity of the lithium sulphate, I think, should be more than 60,000 tonnes,” said the mine’s General Manager, Henry Zhu.
“But it will depend on the whole commissioning of the plant, because it’s brand new, and it’s the biggest in the world.”
Economic benefit for Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe’s Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Winston Chitando says local beneficiation of the product could set Zimbabwe up as an important lithium hotspot globally.
“If we look at it from the production profile of Acadia, they are doing 3.6m tonnes of ore per annum, and that ore will be processed, ultimately in the lithium sulphate plant, which has got three lines,” Chitando said.
“The idea is they will concentrate about 1.5m tonnes of concentrates, which will be input into the lithium sulphate plant. There will be three lines of 500 each.”
Processing the mineral locally could push Zimbabwe’s export revenues from the lithium mining sector to above $1bn.
“When we look at the abundance of lithium, the lithium reserve in Zimbabwe, the overall plan was targeting at least $1bn in terms of revenue generation,” the Minister said.
“When the prices shoot up, it will be considerably much more than a billion.”
Lithium mining in Zimbabwe
Arcardia Mine is one of the eight major lithium producers in the country along with Chinese metals firms like:
- Sinomine
- Chengxin Lithium Group
- Yahua Group
- Tsingshan Holding
They dominate Zimbabwe’s lithium mining and produce lithium concentrates for onward shipping to their home country.
Huayou, the operator of the new plant, alone exported 400,000 tonnes of lithium concentrate from Zimbabwe in 2024.
To curb growing shipments of raw minerals out of the country, the government intends to ban the export of lithium concentrates beginning in 2027 as it pushes for more local processing.
Following the footsteps of Huayou, Sinomine has also announced plans to build a $500m lithium sulphate plant at its Bikita mine.