ZIMBABWE continues to lose out on billions of dollars in potential revenue by exporting largely unprocessed minerals, despite the government’s push to promote beneficiation and value addition in the mining sector.
Beneficiation, the process of adding value to minerals before export, has become a key policy priority for the government; however, continued raw mineral exports have raised questions about the pace of implementation and the country’s ability to maximise returns from its vast mineral resources.
Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) general manager Dr Nomusa Moyo said the contribution of further processing to export earnings was beginning to emerge, although significant potential remained untapped.
“This demonstrates the contribution that further processing is beginning to make to export earnings,” Moyo said.
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The gap between the value of raw and processed minerals highlights the potential gains from expanding Zimbabwe’s refining and processing capacity.
For example, while raw lithium ore can fetch about US$50 per tonne, battery-grade processed lithium can command prices of up to US$22,000 per tonne, according to the figures provided.
However, several obstacles continue to hinder the beneficiation drive, including electricity shortages affecting smelters, inadequate refining capacity and abrupt bans on raw mineral exports before the necessary preparations have been completed.
These challenges have limited the development of local processing capacity and the economic benefits that could accrue from exporting higher-value mineral products.
Despite the hurdles, Zimbabwe’s mineral export earnings, excluding gold and silver, more than doubled to US$4.735 billion in the first nine months of the year, driven by strong lithium demand and higher commodity prices.
Export volumes also increased by 23.4%, rising from 3.84 million tonnes to 4.738 million tonnes.
In September alone, mineral export sales reached US$685.03 million, representing a 116.6% increase compared with the same month last year.
Lithium emerged as a leading revenue earner, generating approximately US$430 million in export value.
“We attribute lithium’s emergence as the leading revenue earner to the beneficiation work being driven by Government, alongside producers’ investment and operational efforts,” Moyo said.
Combined sales of spodumene, petalite and lithium sulphate were reported at an estimated US$2.159 billion, accounting for 45.6% of total mineral export earnings.
Platinum group metals (PGMs) contributed approximately US$1.729 billion, representing 36.5% of total sales.
Despite the growth in export earnings, the continued shipment of largely unprocessed minerals, alongside losses associated with illicit mineral flows and undeclared co-minerals, highlights the need for Zimbabwe to accelerate its beneficiation agenda.
Read the original article on New Zimbabwe.
