Zimbabwe's lithium boom uproots locals
Chinese mining concessions force families from land they have farmed for generations.
Jeffrey Moyo in Harare
Zimbabwean authorities took farmlands back from white farmers in the early 2000s to redress colonial imbalances. Two decades later, in lithium-rich areas, land is parceled off again – this time to Chinese miners.
Life as Shadreck Hombarume knew it ended in 2021 when the fields his family had farmed for generations were marked off as part of the mining concession for Max Mind Investments. The lithium mining and processing company, a subsidiary of Chinese giant Chengxin Lithium Group, operates the Sabi Star mine in Buhera, Manicaland province.
Hombarume now survives as a vendor in the small town of Murambinda Growthpoint. He lives in a single room, together with his wife and two children. “I haven’t been compensated for the land I lost,” he told The Continent.
In a statement sent to The Continent, a Max Mind spokesperson said: “To our knowledge, all villagers who previously occupied the area that the mine has taken up, were all properly engaged, compensated and relocated.” The company said that it relocated 45 families to areas of their choice, including Murambinda.
Zimbabwe holds the world’s fifth-largest reserves of lithium, a mineral vital for producing electric-car batteries. China is the world’s largest producer of – and market for – electric vehicles and is buying large tracts of lithium-rich land to sustain the industry. In 2023, 72% of new mining licences issued in Zimbabwe went to Chinese companies, according to the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency.
But the price local communities pay for the global green transition is invisible.
David Gweshe says he was forced to relocate 70km after Shengxiang Investments acquired a 100-hectare mining concession in Goromonzi, east of Harare, in 2023. He says he received only $1,000 from the company, instead of the $5,000 he was expecting. A Shengxiang Investments representative did not respond to a request for comment.
For years, Gweshe had nurtured fruit trees in Goromonzi but was barred from harvesting after the takeover. “The people working for the Chinese denied me access. They are eating from my fruit trees while I starve with my family.”