Story by Theophilus Chuma
Sitting on the country’s largest lithium ore reserves estimated at around 200 million tonnes, Sandawana Mine is expected to provide impetus to lithium production and significantly contribute to the national vision of a US$12 billion mining economy by the end of this year.
On the sidelines of the ED-UNZA scholarship beneficiary programme to assist underprivileged students, implemented under Kuvimba Mining House, the mining firm revealed plans to set up a processing plant to produce battery-grade lithium at Sandawana Mine next year.
“Gold and Lithium are our key anchors and for Sandawana, we are planning to set up the processing plant next year which can process over four million tonnes of lithium ore. Already, the mining process has progressed well, and we are confident that when we embark on the other phase of exploration, we will get a positive outcome,” said Kuvimba Mining House Group chief executive officer, Mr Simbarashe Chinyemba-Kuvimba.
The mining house has set aside US$30 million for further exploration, with the second phase of lithium exploration at Sandawana expected to start next month.
“We are starting the second phase of exploration where we are targeting 30 million tonnes of ore, 24 million being an indicated resource and 6 million being an inferred. We should be able to drill around 56 000 metres,” said the mine’s exploration manager, Engineer Brighton Bumhira.
Zimbabwe is ranked the sixth largest lithium reserves globally and represents one of Africa’s biggest producers of the commodity.
The Sandawana lithium processing plant will add to similar projects by other players, including the recently commissioned Flotation Plant at Sabi Star Lithium Mine in Buhera, setting the country on a pedestal to advance global energy transition through the supply of lithium and related products. ZBC News