Online Reporter
Rutendo Nyeve in Kamativi
VICE President Dr Constantino Chiwenga has issued a firm directive to the nation’s lithium mining sector, demanding that all companies cease the export of raw ore/spodumene and establish value-addition facilities by January next year.
Vice President Chiwenga made the declaration after a tour of the Kamativi Mining Company in Matabeleland North this Wednesday, as part of his ongoing familiarisation tour of economic activity in the province.
While expressing profound appreciation for the work done to resuscitate collapsed mines like Kamativi, Vice President Chiwenga said the next, non-negotiable phase of development is local beneficiation to build a self-sufficient and industrialised Zimbabwe.
“The cabinet has already indicated that we want now further beneficiation for the economy,” said Vice President Chiwenga.
He emphasised that the Government’s vision is for Zimbabwe to be a central player in the region and the newly established African Continental Free Trade Area.
Reflecting on the progress he witnessed, Vice President Chiwenga acknowledged the transformation of the mining sector.
“I am excited from what has taken place since 1910. But mainly growing out now we find in lithium the Government has done tremendously bringing life to the mines,” he said.
However, he was clear that the era of simply extracting and exporting raw materials must come to an end.
“We can no longer keep on doing the extraction and shipping and giving other people the resources. As we have said, January, we expect all companies that are now in lithium, to be now not exporting, but now to making tangible products,” he said.
He challenged miners to produce finished goods that carry a Made in Zimbabwe label, which would create more jobs and capture greater value from the country’s mineral wealth.
“If we are going to make an electric vehicle, so be it. Whatever we are going to make with cell phones, so be it. Let us do something that is an end product.
The precious mineral that we are taking, it must be processed and bring something that can be, say, made in Zimbabwe, from the region we come from. That is what we want,” he said.
Vice President Chiwenga connected this industrial push to the nation’s long-term legacy.
“We have got generations that will follow us and those generations must see that we built our country,” he said.
The January deadline places lithium miners on a clear trajectory, signalling a new chapter where Zimbabwe’s mineral resources are fundamentally leveraged for comprehensive national economic development.
