Harare, Zimbabwe – In 2023, Peter, a truck driver, approached a border control point between Zimbabwe and Mozambique. He had little reason to question what was in the sealed container of his truck – he had already transported expeditions to this company belonging to Chinese.
“We thought everything was in order,” he says.
But rather than Chrome, the mineral indicated on the container documents, the inspectors found raw lithium. According to law, unprocessed lithium should not leave Zimbabwe without the written authorization of the Minister of Mines and Mines Development. Peter didn’t have that. Border officials seized the truck and trailer – worth more than US $ 50,000 – for a year. Draping Trucking, the company where Peter works, recovered it after paying a fine of US $ 5,000.
Zimbabwe, which has the largest lithium reserves in Africa, is about to help meet global demand in the race to secure green energy and develop advanced technology. Its production turns pale compared to powers like Australia and Chile, but the country is still among the first producers of the mineral, producing 1,200 tonnes in 2021 only.
But as demand increases, illegal trading too. In Zimbabwe, some companies do not send expeditions or underestimate the quality and quantity of lithium exports. Border managers – ignorant or accomplices – allow shipments to pass, undermining efforts to regulate one of the most precious exports in Zimbabwe.
Peter asked that Global Press Journal only uses his first name, and he has not shared the name of the company responsible for the content of the shipping container. He provided the name of the owner of the company, but Global Press Journal was able to verify the involvement of anyone by this name in the industry.
Tendai, a former border agent, says that he accepted bribes to allow lithium expeditions to go through the border. Tendai confirmed the incident involving Peter and said that he was arrested and sentenced to a fine for his role. Like many other sources that have spoken to the Global Press Journal for this article, he asked not to use his full name for fear of losing his job.
Barely prohibited
In 2022, Zimbabwe prohibited the export of raw lithium to limit smuggling and extract more value, because the law would oblige mining companies to treat lithium at the national level. Since then, some of the largest mining lithium companies in the country, such as Arcadia and Bikita Minerals, have set up processing operations.
Data on the question of whether these regulations have generated more income is difficult to find. Official files show that the country’s production of lithium production jumped by 230% between 2022 and 2023. Most of the product is found in China, which controls 90% of the mining sector of Zimbabwe. Despite this, the ban did not do much to contain the liter of smuggling through the porous borders of Zimbabwe.
The regulations are ineffective, explains Gorden Moyo, director of the Zimbabwe Policy and Research Institute. Managers, “including security services, who merge with politicians and foreign governments, especially China”, facilitate illegal exports, he says.
Nomsa Jane Moyo, Director General of the Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe minerals, a group of parastatal that inspects exports, says the organization closely monitors mining at all steps to ensure that companies export the quantities and qualities they declare. They intercept those who judge the law, she says.
The government seized 22 lithium expeditions in 2023 and 23 in 2024. Some were seized before reaching borders; Others were reported by officials of the Forbes Border Post, between Zimbabwe and Mozambique, and Border Border Post, between Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Secrecy in the mines
According to the Marketing Corporation Minerals, in 2023, the country sold a total of 769,086 metric tonnes of lithium, worth 794 million US dollars and produced by two main Lithium mining companies, Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe and Bikita Minerals. Two -thirds of these minerals went to China (59%) or Hong Kong (7%), according to the United Nations data.
But these figures do not reflect the real volume of lithium leaving Zimbabwe, explains Tendai, the former border agent. Lithium export permits are issued with a fixed limit for the quantity of a company to be exported, so companies often underestimate, he says.
It all starts in the mines, where those in charge pretend to closely monitor the activities, explains Tattendnda, an employee of Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe who asked that the world press review would only use his first name for fear of losing her job.
TateTenda says that the company underestimates high notes of lithium. And while the ministry of mines performs inspections, it says: “High quality lithium is hidden under a lower value ore to mislead the inspectors.”
Global Press Journal has made several attempts to speak to the Lithium Zimbabwe prospect. The officials said they were starting but did not respond to subsequent requests.
Companies invade or underestimate the quality and quantity of lithium exports. Border managers – ignorant or accomplices – allow shipments to pass.
Nomsa Jane Moyo, of the Marketing Corporation Minerals, said that the quality of the lithium tests they have carried out in the Prospect Zimbabwe Lithium meets all the legal requirements.
Tendai, the former border agent, says that mining companies sometimes bypass shipping files by welding not only border officials, but also Zimbabwe officers returned Authority or the Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe minerals and others within the export chain.
Zimbabwe returned Authority did not respond to several interview requests, and Nomsa Jane Moyo did not respond to allegations of corruption within the Marketing Corporation Minerals.
Corruption facilitates smuggling, but some border officials do not always know what they inspect, explains Levious Chiukira, customs consultant and commercial at Gleam Customs and Clearing Agency.
“I worked as customs officials for years, but I cannot make the difference between Petalite and Lepidolite, which are both forms of lithium,” he says. “(Revenue Authority) does not use geologists, and there is no institutional capacity to fill this lack of knowledge.”
Mine
Exporters use regulatory gaps, says Gorden Moyo. “Although corruption is liable to the law in China, when they operate abroad, they act with impunity.”
The government has not helped. Contracts between the State and investors are not accessible to the public, according to a report by the Africa Policy Research Institute. He erodes public confidence, explains Tafara Chiremba, an environmental environmentalist Environmental Lawyers Association.
Due to smuggling, says Chiremba, it is China, not Zimbabwe, which benefits from the richness of the country’s lithium.