Zimbabwe’s mining sector is on a strong growth trajectory, with output projections signalling a sector poised for a major transformation if the US$15,5 billion required capital is secured.
Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe (CoMZ) chief executive Mr Isaac Kwesu delivered the message directly to the country’s pension fund industry at the ongoing Zimbabwe Association of Pension Funds (ZAPF) Annual Conference in Victoria Falls.
He presented granular production data and sector financing gaps to an audience managing billions in member assets.
Mr Kwesu was making a deliberate case for pension funds to view Zimbabwe’s mining sector not merely as an industrial story, but as a long-term asset class uniquely aligned with their liability horizons.
According to CoMZ data, Zimbabwe’s mining industry expanded by 7,3 percent in 2025, driven by strong performances in gold, coal and platinum group metals (PGMs) — a result that, while encouraging, represents only the opening chapter of a far larger ambition.
With the sector projected to grow by 10 percent in 2026 and with lithium output targeted to nearly tenfold by 2030, Mr Kwesu’s message to pension fund trustees was clear: long-tenure institutional investors with multi-decade mandates are among the most natural partners for an industry whose most transformative returns will compound over years.
The production data underpinning these projections is compelling.
Official data shows that the country’s gold output, which stood at 50 514kg in 2025, is projected to reach 56 500kg by the end of 2026 — a 12 percent surge – and climb to 70 000kg by 2030, a near 39 percent increase over five years.
Platinum production is targeted to grow from 17 882kg in 2025 to 25 000kg by 2030, while palladium is projected to rise from 16 085kg to 19 000kg over the same period. PGMs as a whole are expected to post 11 percent output growth in 2026 alone.
Perhaps no single data point better captures Zimbabwe’s medium-term mining ambition than the lithium trajectory.
Zimbabwe produced 2 206 165 tonnes of lithium in 2025.
By 2026, that figure is projected to more than double to 4 675 000 tonnes; a 112 percent year-on-year surge.
By 2030, the target leaps to 20 000 000 tonnes, a near tenfold increase from current levels.
“Medium to long-term prospects on the upside are anchored by the emerging lithium sector and the unfolding global energy transition,” Mr Kwesu noted, underlining that Zimbabwe’s position atop some of the world’s richest lithium deposits is increasingly strategically significant as demand for electric vehicle batteries and energy storage surges globally.
Coal and chrome tell a similarly encouraging story. Coal output, at 7,28 million tonnes in 2025, is targeted to reach 20 million tonnes by 2030, a near tripling.
Chrome, currently at approximately 2,2 million tonnes, is projected to reach 7 million tonnes; a more than threefold increase.
However, between Zimbabwe’s current mining reality and its 2030 ambitions sits a formidable obstacle: a total funding gap of US$15,5 billion that the industry must mobilise over the next five years.
Mr Kwesu was unambiguous about the scale of the challenge.
“The mining industry requires at least US$15,5 billion in the next five years to capitalise their businesses and meet their production and investment targets — covering exploration, infrastructure, energy provision, beneficiation and local content,” he said.
The breakdown of this gap reveals where the most capital-intensive battles lie. PGMs demand the largest single allocation at US$6 billion, reflecting the deep capital requirements of platinum and palladium mining operations.
Lithium, the sector’s fastest-growing commodity, requires US$3 billion — a figure that underscores both its explosive growth potential and the heavy infrastructure investment required to scale production.
Chrome and iron and steel each require US$1,5 billion, while coal and gold need US$1 billion apiece. Diamonds account for a further US$500 million.
Speaking at the same event, CBZ Holdings group CEO Mr Lawrence Nyazema said the country already possessed the foundation for domestically-funded industrialisation through existing capital pools estimated at US$26 billion.
The largest share, approximately US$16 billion, is held in assets under the Mutapa Investment Fund, while commercial banks account for around US$6 billion and pension funds roughly US$3 billion.
“Even if you took away Mutapa, we still have US$10 billion to play around with,” he said.
However, the CBZ boss said most pension fund assets remained concentrated in low-productivity investments, with about 35 percent allocated to property and around 23 percent invested in quoted equities.
He contrasted this with global pension markets valued at roughly US$68 trillion, where major economies allocate substantial portions to fixed income markets, infrastructure and diversified productive investments.
In the United States, he noted that between 45 percent and 50 percent of pension assets are invested in equities, while roughly a third are deployed through bonds and fixed-income instruments that finance business expansion and infrastructure development.
Zimbabwe’s fixed-income allocation, by comparison, stands at only about 7 percent.
He cited Canada’s CPP Investments, which grew from about C$100 billion to C$800 billion over two decades after diversifying beyond traditional property and domestic bond investments.
He also pointed to Australia’s pension industry, where major superannuation funds expanded from around US$300 billion to US$2,5 trillion over 28 years through large-scale investments in infrastructure, housing and national development projects.
Zimbabwean pension funds, he argued, should similarly take direct stakes in infrastructure assets such as solar plants, irrigation schemes, logistics hubs and data centres.-herald
