Govt hails PLZ for transforming Mash East
THE GOVERNMENT has commended Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe
(PLZ) for investing in the socio-economic development of Goromonzi, which has helped transform Mashonaland East province.
Speaking after touring the mine last week, Mashonaland East Minister for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Dr Aplonia Munzverengwi praised the company for its commitment to invest in the country.
She said the Government was impressed that the mining company had completed exploration, mine development and had established its plant in less than two years.
“We are standing tall among other provinces and I am impressed and excited that we are the province hosting the biggest deposit (of lithium) in the country as of now,” she said.
“They (PLZ) are here to prove the point that Zimbabwe is open for business.
“We are witnessing the efficacy of Zimbabwe’s ease of doing business reforms today.
“Within two months, I was told they are exporting plus or minus 100 000 tonnes of lithium per month and we are expecting to exceed that figure and maybe to go beyond 200 000 tonnes per month.”
This, Minister Munzverengwi said, has helped create jobs in the province.
“I have heard the company employs plus or minus 2 500 people and out of that, 80 percent are local people, and out of that, 65 percent are from Goromonzi district.”
She also highlighted the positive impact of PLZ’s operations in local communities.
“So, you can see the level of employment that has been created by this company and downstream — a lot of companies are benefiting from the establishment of this company. The company itself is involved in a lot of community activities, be it in health — they are providing health facilities; in education, they are building schools for our people and contributing to infrastructure development.”
Minister Munzverengwi called on the company to expand its operation to include the local manufacture of lithium batteries.
PLZ director in the general manager’s office Mr Yu Long said the company was considering diversifying into battery manufacturing.
“As PLZ, we will follow the procedure step by step,” he said.
“Firstly, we need to finish the concentrate then we go to another step of making lithium sulphate and we continue up to furthering our activities into the manufacturing of batteries.”