The Zimbabwe Lithium Exporters (ZLE) have asked the government to postpone the implementation of an export tax on lithium concentrate until the factories that will refine the battery material into higher-value products become operational in the country.
The ZLE—an industry association representing companies such as Chengxin Lithium Group—requested that the 5% levy aimed at promoting a domestic refining industry be delayed by two and a half years, according to a submission addressed to the Ministries of Mines and Finance.
Zimbabwe has quickly emerged as a major supplier of lithium concentrate to Chinese refineries, after companies like Chengxin, Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, and Sinomine Resource Group spent billions of dollars in recent years developing mines. Last year, the Southern African nation supplied about 14% of China’s lithium imports, according to the CRU Group, a company focused on global mining, metals, and fertilizer markets. The tax on concentrate shipments—which the government considers unprocessed or “non-beneficiated”—should be suspended until factories capable of producing lithium sulfate “are completed and commissioned” in 2027, ZLE said in a document.
The higher-value product will then be shipped to China to be converted into battery material.
The group also complained that Zimbabwe is calculating companies’ royalty payments using the price of the more valuable lithium carbonate, rather than the type actually produced in the country.
The Chamber of Mines, which represents Zimbabwe’s mining sector more broadly, met with the Ministry of Finance on May 19 to discuss the proposals. A spokesperson for the body confirmed the consultations but declined to comment on the ongoing discussions with authorities.
Source: Bloomberg
