On May 27, Zimbabwe, the core lithium mining country in Africa, suddenly introduced a new heavy mining policy, listing 14 strategic resources such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite as key minerals at the national level, formally landing the national mandatory minimum shareholding system.
The new regulations make it clear that any market player who wants to exploit the key minerals mentioned above must introduce the state as a co-owner, and no mining operation can be carried out without state ownership.
This means that if foreign-funded enterprises want to exploit core minerals locally, they must accept government equity participation and tighten the control of local resources in an all-round way. This sudden change in policy has continued the trend of tightening the control of lithium mines in the country during the year. In February
this year, Zimbabwe's ban
on the export of lithium concentrates, which was originally scheduled to be implemented in 2027, was implemented ahead of schedule. Then in April, the policy was structurally loosened. The local government abandoned the "one-size-fits-all" ban and adopted the fine management mode of quota system + compliance commitment to resume the export of lithium ore conditionally.
Zimbabwe is an important import source of lithium ore for China, and almost all of its lithium ore and lithium concentrate are exported to China. Of the 7.75 million tons of lithium ore imported by China in that year, 1.2 million tons came from Zimbabwe, equivalent to 150,000 tons of lithium carbonate, which is an important support for the supply of domestic lithium resources.
In the short run, the stock business in the Chinese market is basically unaffected. However, in the long run, the investment logic of Chinese-funded enterprises in Zimbabwe will change significantly, the project income will be diluted, and the investment cost and operational risk will rise simultaneously.
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