Lithium offers huge opportunity for mining communities
THE extraction and value addition of lithium as a strategic mineral presents a huge opportunity for the mining communities in Zimbabwe to benefit from employment creation and improve livelihoods, an official has said.
As the world increases focus on phasing out fossil fuels to adopt clean energy sources, experts say the sustainable lithium exploitation is critical.
Zimbabwe has large deposits of lithium, which has seen the scramble for the strategic mineral by several big investors with some calling it the new gold.
Lithium is mainly used in the manufacturing of batteries that are able to store huge amounts of energy over long periods and can be used in electric vehicles, solar farms, and mobile phones.
In an interview on the sidelines of the Zimbabwe Alternative Mining Indaba held in Bulawayo last week, Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) legal officer Mr Manele Mpofu said with the coming in of lithium as the new gold, various projects are taking place in different communities.
“We have seen various projects in different communities and it is an opportunity for our communities to also gain in terms of employment creation and improved livelihoods,” he said.
“We see development in terms of local service delivery and we also see improved exports so that we get the much-needed foreign currency and improve our domestic resource mobilisation efforts.
“It’s more important to make sure that communities benefit from the mining operations that will be happening in their various areas.”
Money – Image taken from Pixabay
Mr Mpofu said Zimbabwe should not benefit from only extraction and value addition of lithium as a transition strategic mineral but also from the usage of the final product in its course to promote the use of cleaner and safer energy.
Different mining communities including Sandawana in Mberengwa have seen mining companies investing in infrastructure development in their communities, creating jobs for locals as well as contributing immensely to the economy.
To date, Kuvimba Mining House has injected about US$56 million to revive operations and explore for lithium and other mineral resources in Sandawana, which will see the development of different infrastructure including construction of a new 35km road, rehabilitation and asphalt surfacing of a road network of over 115km, while feasibility studies for the construction of a 60MW solar plant are also underway.
The growing demand for lithium has seen prices for the mineral rising as high as 180 percent in 2021. Zimbabwe is one of the largest lithium giants in Africa and last year the country took a bold step and banned all raw lithium exports after the Government argued that the smuggling of the sought-after mineral was costing the country US$1,8 billion in lost mining earnings.
The ban also seeks to promote domestic value addition, which will promote industrialisation, the creation of jobs as well and increased exports. — chronicle
