A FIGHT ABOUT CHINESE-MINED LITHIUM IN ZIMBABWE IS CAUSING LEGAL UNCERTAINTY ALL OVER

HARARE - A protracted lithium mining dispute between Chinese investors and a Zimbabwean government-owned corporation has led to a contentious High Court verdict that could result in the termination of mining licences issued after 2003.

The case has also drawn attention to the risks associated with investing in the lucrative mining industry, particularly the recent lithium rush in the country.

Last year, Zimbabwe earned R3.9 billion from lithium exports in the first nine months alone. The mineral is poised to become the country’s third-largest mineral export after gold and platinum-group metals.

Chinese firms have spent up to R19 billion in the past two years to acquire and develop lithium projects in Zimbabwe.

Some of the big players are Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, Sinomine Resource Group, Chengxin Lithium, Yahua Group, and Canmax Technologies.

But it is the little-known Avoseh Investments which is at loggerheads with stateowned Sandawana Mines.

Sandawana is owned by the government through the Kuvimba mining house.

Avoseh and Sandawana are locked in battle over a lithium mining claim, which the latter alleges to be in its jurisdiction.

The dispute arose after Sandawana was granted first rights to prospect in an area registered in 1964 as the property of Rio Tinto, a British-Australian multinational company, now the world’s second-largest metals and mining corporation.

Private players were invited after Sandawana pegged the 3, 800-hectare area.

Avoseh then arrived and pegged its 24 blocks, which it registered in November 2022.

The Chinese firm went on to mine and now sits on lithium ore that is, according to court papers, worth R285 million. – NEWS24.