Kuvimba Mining House says it has signed an agreement with a Chinese consortium to build a US$310 million lithium plant at Sandawana Mine, but the company is yet to name the new investors.
A statement released Thursday by the company, which is owned by the sovereign wealth fund Mutapa, said it had signed “investment agreements with leading foreign British and Chinese companies in the global lithium market”. It doesn’t name the British and Chinese firms.
However, in June, UK’s Cluff Africa said it had signed a deal to invest in a 45% share of licenses at Sandawana.
Neither Kuvimba nor Aguy Cluff, founder of Cluff Africa, gave no details then. This has adds uncertainty around Kuvimba’s strategy for Sandawana, the former emerald mine that is said to hold one of Zimbabwe’s largest lithium deposits. Kuvimba has said it will not sell Sandawana, but find partners to develop the operation.
“KMH has signed a binding Build, Operate, and Transfer (BOT) agreement with the Chinese consortium for a three-million tonne per year ore processing plant. The plant is set to be commissioned within 18 months and shall generate an estimated US$600 million per year from a planned 600,000 tonnes of lithium concentrate,” Kuvimba said in its statement.
“The BOT period shall be six years during which period Sandawana employees shall be trained on operating the state-of-the-art processing equipment.”
Kuvimba says the Chinese consortium will fund mine development, a concentrate plant and supporting infrastructure. The first plant will cost US$310 million, which will be disbursed in the next 18 months. The loan shall be paid back to the consortium during the BOT period, the company said. A second plant would be built after a second round of exploration.
Acting CEO Trevor Barnard said: “It is encouraging to see the growing trust and confidence in the Zimbabwean Minerals sector by the broad spectrum of investors. We are committed to mutual partnership of transparency, accountability, and efficient management of our local resources and this will underline the way we work.”
Investors have spent a total of US$1 billion in buying and developing lithium assets in Zimbabwe over the past three years. Among the most recent investors are Tsingshan, the global nickel giant, which is building a lithium mine in Gwanda and is said to have shown interest in Sandawana. BYD, one of the world’s biggest battery maker, has also been scouting for lithium assets. – (NewZWire)
