THE council of ministers from across the southern African region converged in Luanda, Angola, this week to deliberate on the development of storage through lithium battery manufacturing, among other critical issues.
Statistics have revealed that Zimbabwe has the largest lithium reserves in Africa and has in recent years drawn investors in battery minerals from Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia, although China is the dominant player.
Lithium is a key component for electric vehicle batteries.
To cash in on demand, Zimbabwe last year banned the export of raw lithium ore.
In doing so, it joined countries like Indonesia and Chile that are trying to maximise their return on deposits of lithium, cobalt and nickel by requiring miners to invest locally in refining and processing before they can export.
Industry and Commerce minister Sekai Nzenza, who led a delegation of senior officials at the 43rd Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and government of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), said there was “a long discussion on agro-processing, mineral beneficiation, and downstream processing and value chain development”.
“Zimbabwe highlighted progress in mining value addition and beneficiation particularly in lithium and iron ore. The council of ministers debated on the development of energy storage through lithium battery manufacturing,” Nzenza said in her report.
The push by Sadc council of minister comes as Chinese energy companies have snapped up controlling shareholdings in Zimbabwean lithium mines during the past four months, as China, the world’s biggest electric vehicle (EV) market, increasingly gravitates towards Africa to diversify the supply of lithium, one of the most sought-after minerals used in the booming manufacture of EVs.
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Chengxin Lithium Group opened the spate of acquisitions last November with the attainment of a 51% interest in Max Mind Investment’s Sabi Star Lithium Mine in eastern Zimbabwe at a cost of US$77 million.
Zimbabwe possesses Africa’s largest lithium reserves and the fifth largest globally, but the resource has remained largely untapped due to a lack of investment.
Lithium has become a vital raw material required in the transition to a green economy. Lithium-ion batteries are commonly utilised in EV manufacturing and in electric devices or solar panels to store excess solar energy.
Battery metal specialists say the drive for clean technology initiatives and off-grid power storage has created an enormous demand for lithium batteries and electric vehicles in recent years. Demand is expected to accelerate rapidly.
Fitch Solutions estimates that there are about nine lithium projects currently being developed in Africa — in Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mali, Ghana and the Democratic Republic of Congo, but the projects are still small relative to the number of projects being developed in the Americas, Australia and Europe.
Nzenza said the preparatory meeting for the heads of States also focused on diversification of industrial production and exports through attracting investments in technology and innovation.
She said the agenda of the regional meeting focused on many socio-economic issues which included progress on the implementation of regional programmes and strategies.
Nzenza also highlighted some of the regional strategic and economic issues where Zimbabwe has taken a key role.
“The council of ministers meeting focused on cross-cutting economic regional issues and among these was the implementation of the Sadc Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap.
“Zimbabwe contributed to the discussions on competitiveness, regional integration, COVID-19, manufacturing and our overall participation in the global value chains.”
She said the Sadc Council of Ministers acknowledged that Zimbabwe was on an upward economic trajectory.
While infrastructural development and manufacturing were seen as low hanging fruits within the region, Nzenza said Zimbabwe was able to showcase some of the major milestones achieved in infrastructural development, manufacturing especially of pharmaceuticals and agro products.
The summit ran under the theme Human and financial capital: The key drivers for sustainable industrialisation of the Sadc region.
