Artisinal miners appeals for suspension of ban on Lithium exportation

The Zimbabwe Miners Federation has appealed to the government to suspend the blanket ban imposed on the exportation of raw lithium.


In a notice to the Minister of Mines & Mining Development Winston Chitando,the ZMF President Henrietta Rushwaya said that the ban had a negative effect on the livelihoods of the artisinal miners in Zimbabwe.

“We humbly seek your indulgence in the granting of a six-month moratorium on SI 5 of 2023. The unexpected ban has prejudiced standing off-take agreements between miners and international buyers, some of whom had taken loans from their respective countries to finance trade in these minerals,” said Rushwaya.

“Livelihoods of small-scale miners involved in mining base minerals have been negatively impacted by the ban since the trading of the minerals was halted,”Rushwaya added.

Zimbabwe banned all lithium exports after the government said it was losing 1.7 billion euros from exporting it as a raw mineral and not processing it into batteries .
The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development said the measure was meant to clamp down on the artisanal miners digging up lithium and smuggling the mineral across border.
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Lithium is so valuable as a component of electronic batteries – mostly for cars mobile phones and computers – that it’s known as “white gold.