The plan matches inside a wider push throughout Africa so as to add worth to pure assets earlier than exporting them to reap better financial rewards.
Ghana, Africa’s greatest gold producer, opened a brand new refinery in August and Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote’s mega-oil refinery began working this yr.
Zimbabwe has the world’s third-largest recognized platinum reserves after Russia and South Africa. Platinum producers within the nation embrace items of Zimplats Holdings Ltd. and Anglo American Platinum Ltd.
The southern African nation can be the continent’s largest producer of lithium — a key uncooked materials in electric-vehicle batteries — and has attracted important funding from Chinese language corporations, together with Chengxin Lithium Group Co. Ltd., Sinomine Useful resource Group Co. Ltd and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co. Ltd.
Within the final two years, Zimbabwe has banned the export of unprocessed uncooked lithium and “base minerals” to spice up home processing.
(By Ray Ndlovu)
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