HARARE – In an effort to value-add its resources, encourage local industries, and create jobs, Zimbabwe has immediately banned the export of raw lithium.
Base Minerals Export Control (Unbeneficiated Lithium Bearing Ores) Order, 2022, Statutory Instrument (SI) 213 of 2022, which was published Tuesday, was used to enact the prohibition.
No lithium-bearing ores or unbeneficiated lithium of any kind may be exported from Zimbabwe to another nation without the minister of mines’ prior written consent, according to the SI.
Unbeneficiated lithium, according to the regulations, is defined as any lithium that has not completed processing to the point where it would be exempt from paying export taxes.
Zimbabwe is the fifth-biggest producer of lithium in the world and is believed to have the highest lithium reserves in all of Africa.
