Government halts Mutoko lithium rush
By Tendai Sahondo
Mutoko - Government has swiftly moved to halt the lithium rush in Mutoko by deploying security forces to chase away local artisanal miners that thronged the mineral rich area.
A snap survey by the Business Connect revealed that security forces have since been deployed to the Chitangazuva area, which was the major hotspot for the artisanal activities. Police were also deployed to Benson mine to scare away local miners that had begun earning a living from the in-demand mineral.
Locals were selling lithium for $10-$15 a wheelbarrow, with the ore being resold to Chinese companies in Harare for $400. However government was quick to halt the lithium rush premised on a recently pronounced ban on lithium exports.
Deputy mines minister, Polite Kambamura had recently toured Mutoko and vowed to stop local miners from accessing the mineral.
“To curb or to minimise mineral smuggling, we will have to come back to the roots where mining is taking place. We need to have security measures that protect the pegging, development and marketing of lithium starting with those that have registered mining claims for lithium,” he said.
“Currently there is a lot of illegal lithium mining especially in this region because of near surface lithium ore. Despite Government banning export of lithium ore, there is still plenty of lithium mining happening with buyers all over.
“We do not know where they are taking that lithium after the ban. If they are buying lithium illegally which means they are also exporting that lithium illegally which is smuggling,” he said.
However Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) director, Farai Maguwu said government should not chase away local miners but rather regulate their activities, as this might be the only way they will ever benefit from the minerals in their communities.
“Sanity does not mean government control. Where locals can mine and generate something, what government needs to do is simply to regulate their operations. Chasing away your own people from a resource in great demand is nowhere near sanity. That's the opposite. Lithium, as alluded above, is bulky and very easy to regulate if there is political will.
“Now that the thousands of Zimbabweans have been chased away, wait and see who comes in and whether you will ever see even a classroom block built from the lithium revenues. It was the same with diamonds - discovered by local but 2023 marks 14 straight years of unrivaled looting that makes even Cecil John Rhodes green with envy,” he said.
Maguwu said it is curious how government has quickly issued Exclusive Prospecting Orders (EPOs) for all identified lithium rich zones.
“It is unfortunate that security forces are stopping local miners from extracting lithium as this will not benefit the nation but will benefit cartels,” he said.
Analysts have always decried Mutoko’s resource curse, as it is not benefitting anything from minerals in the eastern town, which includes Black Granite, Gold and now Lithium.