"Lithium Boom: Zimbabwe Looks to China to Secure a Place in the EV Battery Supply Chain" 23 January 2024

Chinese companies have flocked to Zimbabwe’s untapped reserves of high-grade lithium to shore up the country’s supplies, benefiting from the Southern African nation’s cheap labour and deregulated mining sector...

But Zimbabwe’s poor progress on establishing robust resource governance threatens to keep communities from seeing any of the benefits...Regulatory gaps, human rights abuses, illegal trade, and alleged corruption have all been barriers...

Zimbabwean law vests all mineral rights to the president. With no requirements to disclose the beneficial owners of mining projects, “there is no due diligence and parliamentary oversight on Chinese investments,”...

For small-holder farmers living in the vicinity of the Sabi Star mine in Buhera, lithium mining has brought the promise of jobs and a better life...

In 2021, Chengxin Lithium Group, one of China’s largest lithium producers, acquired a majority share in the mine’s operator, Max Mind Investments...Chengxin Lithium Group’s biggest customers include Chinese companies BYD and CATL...

Chengxin Lithium said in a statement that the mine would create up to 600 jobs and ease pressure on local employment...

But not everyone sees it that way. Noah Manhidza, Mukwasi village’s traditional leader, told Climate Home more than 100 families have been displaced by the mine. ..The number of local youths employed by the mine has also been disappointing...Local workers are paid the mining sector’s minimum wage – at least $350 per month, according to local trade unions...“But their working conditions are still at minimum standards,” ...

Chengxin Lithium told Climate Home it will uphold its social responsibility and strive to “make greater contributions to this land”...