Online Reporter
George Maponga
Masvingo Bureau
Sinomine Bikita Minerals Mine continues to heed the Government’s call to add value to high-value local minerals after the company yesterday commenced construction of a tantalite processing plant with an annual capacity of 600 tonnes. The miner is also expanding its spodumene processing plant to increase capacity to 3,3 million tonnes of lithium ore per annum.
The development comes as Bikita Minerals has also begun constructing a lithium sulphate plant under a US$500 million investment that moves the Chinese mining company closer to producing battery-grade lithium carbonate used in the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles.
Upon completion, Sinomine Bikita Minerals will produce 100 000 tonnes of lithium sulphate annually, providing a significant boost to the local economy as Zimbabwe continues pursuing greater beneficiation of its high-value mineral resources.
The Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Dr Polite Kambamura, yesterday presided over the groundbreaking ceremony for the tantalite processing plant at Sinomine Bikita Minerals, where he hailed President Mnangagwa for directing local mining companies to embrace value addition and beneficiation of high-value minerals such as lithium.
Dr Kambamura commended Sinomine Bikita Minerals for heeding the President’s call to ensure Zimbabwe derives greater benefits from its lithium resources as the country moves towards attaining upper-middle-income status by 2030. “What we are witnessing here today are the fruits of President Mnangagwa’s positive policies, under which he directed that all mining companies extracting high-value minerals should also add value to them locally so that the country derives greater benefits from its abundant mineral wealth. What we are seeing here today is testimony to the good work and visionary leadership of our President,” he said.
“We have also inspected equipment that will be used to construct the tantalite processing plant, which will have a capacity of 600 tonnes per annum, and all the materials required for the project are already on site, which is commendable. We have come here to perform the groundbreaking ceremony for the plant, and construction is expected to be completed by the end of March next year.”
The Mines and Mining Development Minister also expressed satisfaction with efforts being undertaken by the Chinese miner to recover key minerals from tailings dumps as part of a new drive to maximise the extraction of valuable minerals contained in lithium ore.
He said it was pleasing to note that Sinomine Bikita Minerals had also started recovering niobium, a high-value rare-earth mineral, from its tailings dumps.
“The mine has also started recovering the rare-earth mineral niobium through further processing of tailings dumps, and all this will ensure that, as a country, we account for every mineral found in lithium ore.”
Minister Kambamura also hailed the production of another high-value mineral, caesium, which is found in pollucite and was previously not being processed at Sinomine Bikita Minerals.
According to the Cabinet Minister, the ongoing expansion of the spodumene processing plant will be a game-changer for the Bikita-based lithium producer.
Upon completion of the expansion project, the plant will process 3,3 million tonnes of spodumene ore annually, up from the current 2 million tonnes.
“The expansion of the spodumene processing plant will help ensure that the lithium sulphate plant currently under construction has sufficient spodumene concentrate to produce lithium sulphate,” added Minister Kambamura.
He also urged the Chinese miner to continue prioritising the employment of local people to ensure communities benefit directly from the exploitation of their natural resources.
Minister of State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Ezra Chadzamira hailed Bikita Minerals’ value-addition drive, saying the initiative had created hundreds of jobs while contributing to the growth of Masvingo’s economy.
He said the mining sector was a key pillar of the provincial economy as Masvingo seeks to become a US$8 billion economy in gross domestic product terms by 2030.
Sinomine Bikita Minerals has so far invested more than US$300 million to increase production of spodumene, petalite and other high-value minerals since acquiring the lithium miner in 2022.
The company now employs more than 2 000 permanent workers and supports numerous downstream enterprises, making it a key contributor to Masvingo’s provincial economy.
