Chinese investors Hong Kong Eagle International Investment and Pacific Goal Investment are set to build plants equipped to process metals including platinum, chromium, lithium and nickel.

The goal of the New Energy Special Economic Zone Industrial Park is to “…develop an industrial value chain represented by new energy metals such as lithium and nickel, to increase the added value of the mineral products and form a new energy production base that embrace[s] the world while based in Africa”. 

According to Eagle International documents seen by Bloomberg, the ~40km2 integrated industrial park is expected to be built in Mapinga, northwest of Harare, and include two 300MW power plants to provide electricity to the various refineries including a US$$1Bn nickel sulphate plant, a US$500M nickel-chromium alloy smelter, and a US$450M lithium plant. 

The announcement is the latest in a series of recent Chinese investments in lithium assets in Zimbabwe.   In January last year, Sinomine Resource group acquired Zimbabwe’s Bikita Minerals’ operational lithium mine.  Later in 2021, Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt completed a US$422M purchase of the Arcadia hard-rock lithium project from Prospect Resources, with the mine set to start producing spodumene and petalite next year.  

This year has seen news (in June) that BYD intends to buy six lithium mines in Africa, while in July, it was announced that Premier African Minerals had signed an offtake deal with Suzhou TA&A Ultra Clean Technology in China and would, as a result, start shipping spodumene concentrate from its Zulu lithium mine in Zimbabwe to China by March 2023. 

Outside of the lithium space, in June this year, Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) signed an agreement with Chinese firm Dinson Iron and Steel Company (DISCO) for the construction of a 100km high-voltage transmission power line from Kewkwe to Mvuma. The line will power DISCO’s steel blast furnace planned for commissioning in September 2023.