WORLD NEWS | Zimbabwe shuts China-owned Bikita Minerals weeks after claiming lithium looting

Harare [Zimbabwe]May 21 (ANI): Zimbabwe’s largest lithium mine, Bikita Minerals, currently owned by China’s Sinomine Resources Group, has been ordered to suspend operations, New Zimbabwe reported.

It suspended operations at its Masvingo mine for seven days to address “concerns raised by the authorities”, weeks after local regulators filed looting allegations.

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Deputy Mines and Mines Development Minister Polite Kambamura confirmed the decision to suspend following an inter-ministerial audit last week, NewsDay reported.

Farai Maguwu, director of the Center for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG), claimed on May 2 that there had been a massive lithium looting incident at the mine. According to New Zimbabwe, 42 truckloads of lithium ore are said to leave the site every day.

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“My fellow Zimbabweans, the looting of our mines at Bikita Minerals has reached another level. They process 754 tons of concentrate every day. Every day 42 trucks full of lithium concentrate leave with the loot,” Maguwu said.

Bikita Minerals employs 860 people and holds 11 million tonnes of lithium, the largest known lithium deposit in the world.

“Ian Smith and his Rhodesian partners used Zimbabwe’s natural resources to build cities and a country worth fighting for. They left behind world class infrastructure, great industry and factories and a strong currency. Most importantly What is interesting is that the mining industry is linked to all economic activities,” Ma Guwu added.

China’s China Mining Resources Group bought Bikita Minerals last year for $180 million, when it was Zimbabwe’s only lithium-producing mine and one of the oldest in Africa.

Lithium is seen as Zimbabwe’s way out of a three-decade-long economic crisis. Analysts believe the mineral could also help circumvent the effects of trade and financial aid restrictions that have been in place since the early 2000s, New Zimbabwe reported.

The Chinese miner is investing a further US$200 million to expand Bikita’s existing operations, including building two lithium processing plants to produce 250,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate and 480,000 tonnes of petalite per year.

Spodumene is another important battery mineral, and petalite is a lithium mineral used in the glass and ceramic industries.

Meanwhile, Bikita Minerals mine manager David Mwanza said in a statement released on Monday that they were working to resolve the issues raised, New Zimbabwe reported, without naming them.

“This press release is to inform our stakeholders and partners that we have suspended operations at the factory for seven days to address administrative concerns raised by the authorities,” Mwanza said.

Despite the surge in production, working conditions have reportedly deteriorated as workers are allegedly mistreated, underpaid, while housed in inhumane facilities and not registered with statutory bodies such as the National Social Security Administration.

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(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)