Vusumuzi Dube
Rutendo Nyeve, Features Reporter
For over 50 years, the mining and extraction of lithium minerals has been at the centre of Bikita Minerals with the mine being the world’s foremost supplier of the lithium mineral ‘Petalite’.
The revamping of the lithium mining sector through various partnerships and investments has seen the revitalisation of these old mines in Bikita and Kamativi among others.
The revitalisation of these mines has not only positioned the country on a positive prospective trajectory in mining, but has seen the creation of value addition and beneficiation as well as jobs. Sunday News takes you through some of the lithium mine investments and partnerships that have seen the revitalisation of these mines.
So intense has been the revamping exercise that the first ever lithium ore processing plant will be set up this year through a joint venture between Mutoko Mineral Resources and Suzhou, a Chinese Company.
This will headline some of the prospective strides set to be taken to revamp the lithium mining industry.
According to surveys and researches, Zimbabwe’s lithium deposits are the largest in Africa and the country will become one of the world’s largest lithium miner and exporter, with continued high international demand because of its importance to the battery industry. The government is on record pronouncing that the country will meet 20 percent of the world’s total demand for lithium when it fully exploits its known lithium resources.
The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development and the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe has listed areas of verified lithium deposits in Zimbabwe. These are Goromonzi, Mudzi, Buhera, Bikita, Chegutu, Hwange, Harare, Insiza, Rushinga, Mutoko, Mutare and Hwange. However, more of the resource continues to be discovered in various areas across the country. So far, the mineral has been discovered in areas such as Mberengwa, Fort Rixon, Bindura, and Kadoma.
Cognisant of the fact that lithium is emerging as an important resource commodity with the global economy shifting to clean energy systems, Zimbabwe has thus focused on getting more value from the mineral.
One of the steps taken has been the ban on raw lithium exports, a move that is set to boost value addition and create jobs. This was done through the propagation of Statutory Instrument 213 of 2022 last month.
While there are a number of mines that were mining, according to a local mining publication, Mining Zimbabwe, Bikita mine is one of the largest lithium mines in Zimbabwe, with reserves of 10.8 million tonnes of lithium ore that has a lithium content of 1.4 percent, or 150 000 tonnes.
“The Arcadia Lithium Mine is expected to reach an annual production of 2.5 million tonnes of lithium ore after the mine is deployed, which would roughly equate to US$3 billion in exports. The production of lithium minerals in Zimbabwe increased drastically between 2005 and 2010, from just 1 100 metric tonnes to around 50 000 metric tons in 2020. This production volume remained from around 2014 to 2020 and is expected to increase significantly in 2023 to more than 80 000 metric tonnes.”
Bikita Minerals has been an active mining site for around 100 years. China Sinomine Resource Group, which acquired Bikita Minerals invested US$200 million to build a plant and expand its existing mining operations.
Arcadia Lithium Mine, also in Bikita, has seen upcoming projects with the mine already delivering lithium- containing minerals spodumene and petalite since last year. When investment was channelled to Arcadia Lithium Mine, it was anticipated that it will be producing an average of 212 000 tonnes (t) of six percent spodumene concentrate, 216 000t of petalite concentrate, and 188 000 pounds of tantalum per annum from Arcadia. The project is estimated to have a mine life of 12 years.
Sabi Star Lithium Mine is another mine that benefitted from investment when Shenzhen-listed Chengxin Lithium Group in 2021 acquired a 51 percent interest stake. Sabi Star Lithium Mine in eastern Zimbabwe saw Chengxin lithium group investing US$77 million.
The company, listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange spent US$76.5 million on 51 percent of MaxMind, which held claims. Sabi Star Mine is expected to produce one million tonnes of raw ore and is at an advanced stage of constructing processing infrastructure. The recovery of the lithium will be via the floatation process which will include gravity separation circuits to also recover tantalite. At full operational capacity, the one million tonnes of ore will translate to 300 000 tonnes of lithium concentrate and 300 tonnes of tantalite- niobium per year.
The Kamativi Lithium Project has also seen the revamping of the Kamativi mines. The projects comprise Exclusive Prospecting Orders (EPO) 1782, covering 520 square kilometres, and lies on the Kamativi Belt directly adjacent to, and along strike from the historic Kamitivi Tin-tantalum Mine which operated from 1936 to 1994.
The Kamativi Mine produced 37 000 tonnes of tin and 3 000 tonnes of tantalumm ore from pegmatites, and in 2018 Chimata Gold Corp (Zimbabwe Lithium Company) announced a new JORC (Australasian code for reporting of exploration results, mineral resources and ore reserves) compliant Indicated
Mineral Resource of 26 metric tonnes at 0.58 percent lithium 20 within the Kamativi Mine tailings, confirming that the mine contained significant quantities of lithium.
In June 2022, Galileo announced that it has started exploration works at the Kamativi lithium project. Kamativi Mining Company (KMC) is rapidly spearheading its exploration drive to transform the former tin mine into one of the biggest spodumene and Petalite ore body in Zimbabwe.
Reports late last year were that drilling at different locations was on course to delineate the potential deposit. Between September 2021 and March 2022, Phase-one drilling commenced with 38 holes being drilled to the depth of 2 140 metres. Phase-one drilling focuses on open-cast areas with shallow holes for Open Cast Mining.
Between April 2022 to June 2022, Phase- two drilling commenced and KMC managed to drill 28 holes of 5 000 metres. The drilling was for underground mining and Mineral Processing research was still underway. The type of lithium dominant at KMC Preliminary sample results have shown encouraging results for the mine hosting high-grade lithium spodumene, petalite with the mine having the potential to become one of the biggest lithium producers in Africa.
Spodumene is an essential supply of lithium to be used in ceramics, cell phones and car batteries, medicine, Pyroceram and as a fluent substance. With the rise and popularity of Electric Vehicles, spodumene has become the most important commodity in the world with nearly all battery producers looking for mines that can supply them uninterruptedly spodumene for the future of the transport sector. @nyeve14
Online Reporter