A
worker
checks
their
mobile
phone,
as
Zimbabwe’s
President
Emmerson
Mnangagwa
commissions
the
Prospect
Lithium
mine
and
processing
plant
in
Goromonzi,
Zimbabwe
July
5,
2023.
REUTERS/Philimon
Bulawayo
GOROMONZI,
Zimbabwe
(Reuters)
–
Zhejiang
Huayou
Cobalt
(603799.SS) on
Wednesday
commissioned
a
lithium
concentrator
in
Zimbabwe
as
it
seeks
to
consolidate
its
position
as
one
of
the
world’s
top
battery
materials
producers.
Huayou
acquired
the
Arcadia
hard
rock
deposit,
40
kilometres
outside
Harare,
from
Australia-listed
Prospect
Resources (PSC.AX) for
$422
million
in
April
2022.
The
Chinese
company
invested
a
further
$300
million
to
build
a
plant
to
produce
450,000
metric
tons
of
lithium
concentrates
annually.
The
Arcadia
plant
took
nine
months
to
construct
and
started
exporting
concentrates
in
April
after
the
plant
went
into trial
production,
George
Fang,
Huayou
vice
president
and
chairman
of
the
Zimbabwe
unit,
said
in
a
speech
to
mark
the
commissioning.
“We
have
exported
close
to
30,000
metric
tons.
This
equates
to
$40
million
in
revenue
generation,”
Fang
said.
Zimbabwe’s
President
Emmerson
Mnangagwa,
who
officiated
at
the
commissioning,
said
the
southern
African
country
hopes
its
huge
hard
rock
lithium
resources
will
help
revive
its
struggling
economy.
“Lithium
is
a
mineral
of
the
present
and
the
future.
It
is
beneficial
and
will
position
our
country
in
the
global
lithium
value
chain,”
Mnangagwa
said.
Zimbabwe’s
government
wants
lithium
miners
operating
in
the
country
to
go
beyond
producing
lithium
concentrates
and
process battery-grade
lithium.
Trevor
Barnard,
deputy
general
manager
of
Huayou’s
Zimbabwe
unit,
said
the
company
was
undertaking
feasibility
studies
on
further
processing.
“We
are
not
at
the
battery
stage
yet,
it
will
take
a
regional
approach
from
quite
a
few
mines
coming
together
to
do
beneficiation
(processing),”
Barnard
told
Reuters.
Chinese
firms
including
Huayou,
Sinomine
Resource
Group (002738.SZ),
Chengxin
Lithium
Group (002240.SZ),
Yahua
Group (002497.SZ) and
Canmax
Technologies (300390.SZ) have
spent
more
than
$1
billion
over
the
past
two
years
to
acquire
and
develop
lithium
projects
in
Zimbabwe.
London-listed Premier
African
Minerals (PREM.L) has
said
it
will
start
producing
lithium
concentrates
from
its
Zulu
mine
in
southern
Zimbabwe
this
year
despite
a
delay
caused
by
a
plant
defect.