China’s Yahua starts building lithium sulfate plant in Zimbabwe

Sichuan Yahua Industrial Group Co. said it has started building a lithium sulfate plant in Zimbabwe as the southern African country pushes mining investors to upgrade their processing operations.

The facility is the third such plant being developed by Chinese companies in Zimbabwe, which has swiftly become one of the world’s largest suppliers of the metal used in electric-vehicle batteries. The government is trying to phase out the export of lithium concentrate in favor of a higher value sulfate product.

Yahua, which runs the Kamativi lithium mine in a joint venture with the Zimbabwean state, told investors on a Shenzhen Exchange platform Thursday that it’s begun building a plant to manufacture lithium sulfate.

Zimbabwe this week suspended lithium concentrate shipments with immediate effect, having previously flagged that a full ban would be implemented at the start of next year. Mines Minister Polite Kambamura said export authorizations will only be granted to companies with valid mining licenses and approved processing capacity.

Yahua said its understanding is that the measures mainly target illegal exports and expects to receive permission within two weeks to resume shipments. Zimbabwe’s mines ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment. The Sichuan-based group owns lithium refineries in China.

Resource-rich African nations are becoming more assertive in how they persuade mining firms to do more processing and refining locally. The Democratic Republic of Congo has introduced strict controls on the amount of cobalt — also a key material in many EV batteries — that can leave the country.

Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co. and Sinomine Resource Group are also building sulfate facilities at their Arcadia and Bikita mines, respectively, which are both larger than Yahua’s Kamativi joint venture. Lithium sulfate is an intermediate material used to make battery-grade chemicals.

Billions of dollars of investment by Chinese companies has propelled Zimbabwe up the rankings of lithium producers. The country accounted for almost 10% of the world’s mined supply last year, according to the US Geological Survey.

(By William Clowes and Annie Lee)