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Zimbabwe gives lithium miners deadline for refinery plans

Published

5 months ago

December 1, 2023

Zimbabwe has given lithium miners a deadline to present outlines for the local production of battery-grade lithium in a bid to benefit from the growing demand for the clean energy mineral.

During the presentation of the national budget for 2024 on Thursday, Mthuli Ncube, the minister of finance, stated that the government did not consider the current concentrate production in the country to be beneficiation, which is the process of improving raw minerals to add value.

Due to the widespread use of rechargeable lithium batteries in the expanding markets for electric vehicles, portable electronics, electric tools, and grid storage applications, lithium consumption for batteries has increased dramatically in recent years.

“Any lithium value addition process that does not result in the production of lithium carbonate is not regarded as beneficiation. Lithium-producing companies should submit their beneficiation plans no later than 31 March 2024,” Ncube said.

He added that no new licences would be granted to prospective lithium miners without approved beneficiation plans.

Some of the largest hard-rock lithium reserves in the world are found in Zimbabwe, and Chinese miners Sinomine Resource Group, Chengxin Lithium Group, Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, Yahua Group, and Canmax Technologies have invested over $1 billion in these reserves.

Sinomine, a company that recently put its $300 million spodumene concentrator at its Bikita mine in southern Zimbabwe into service, announced on the same day that it had begun feasibility studies to produce battery-grade lithium in Zimbabwe.

Huayou, a competitor, stated that it would investigate local production of lithium sulphate “only when the construction and economic conditions are right.” Huayou purchased the Arcadia mine, which is located just outside of Harare in 2022 and built a concentrator that began production earlier this year.

According to to 2022 report, the global end-use markets for lithium are estimated to be as follows: batteries, 74%; ceramics and glass, 14%; lubricating greases, 3%; continuous casting mould flux powders, 2%; polymer production, 2%; air treatment, 1%; and other uses, 4%. Lithium markets vary depending on the location.

With $209 million in revenue during the first nine months of 2023, gold and platinum group metals (PGM) are Zimbabwe’s two largest mineral exports.

Related Topics:Featured Lithium Zimbabwe

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ExxonMobil ‘optimistic’ over Mozambique LNG project

Published

6 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

According to a company spokesman on Thursday, ExxonMobil is “optimistic and pushing forward” with its postponed Rovuma liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Mozambique and anticipates a final investment decision before the end of next year.

In offshore Area 4 in northern Mozambique, ExxonMobil and its partner Enivare are developing the Rovuma LNG project. Exxon is in charge of building and running the onshore liquefaction and associated facilities, while Eni is focused on the Coral floating LNG and upstream activities.

ExxonMobil was also impacted by the development of shared and common facilities, such as an LNG jetty and offloading facility when TotalEnergies declared force majeure in 2021 in response to an offensive by militants linked to the Islamic State that threatened its Area 1 Mozambique LNG project.

“We recognise there are challenges and there are. We recognise that those challenges can be overcome if we work together,” Arne Gibbs, general manager at ExxonMobil Mozambique, told an energy conference in Maputo.

“My message is quite simple … We are optimistic, we are pushing forward,” he said of a project expected to enter a front-end engineering and design (FEED) phase in a few months.
Originally planned for 15 million metric tons per year (mtpa), the project has been changed to a modern, electric, modular facility capable of producing 18 mtpa of LNG, which is more flexible and emits fewer harmful pollutants, according to Gibbs.

“It was important to change our design to a project that is ready-made, that is fit for purpose for the current business environment, including the attention to CO2 emissions and GHG (greenhouse gases),” he added.

Credit Agricole declared in March that it would not lend money to two significant LNG projects, including Rovuma, on the grounds that it had made a pledge to abstain from further fossil fuel ventures.

According to Gibbs, the business acknowledged that the intervention of a regional military force and Rwanda’s military assistance to Mozambique had resulted in a notable improvement in the security environment.

In February, Exxon announced that it was keeping an eye on security developments in the province of Cabo Delgado, where terrorists affiliated with the Islamic State have been launching new attacks this year.

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Nigeria’s Insurance Corporation raises maximum deposit coverage from N500k to N5m

Published

9 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The maximum deposit insurance coverage levels for Deposit Money Banks has been raised by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) on Thursday from N500,000 to N5 million.

At a news conference in Abuja, NDIC Managing Director Bello Hassan declared this effective immediately. He said, “For Deposit Money Banks, the increase of the maximum deposit insurance coverage from N500,000 to N5,000,000, would provide full coverage of 98.98% of the total depositors compared with the current cover of 89.20%. Regarding the value of deposits covered, the revised coverage would increase the value of deposits covered by deposit insurance to 25.37% compared with the current cover of 6.31% of the total value of deposits.

“The increase of the maximum deposit insurance coverage from N200,000 to N2,000,000 would provide full coverage of 99.27% of the total depositors compared with the current level of 98.76% and would increase the value of deposits covered by deposit insurance to 34.43% compared with 14.38% of the total value of deposit, currently covered.

“The increase of the maximum deposit insurance coverage from N500,000 to N2,000,000 would provide full coverage of 99.34% of the total depositors compared with the current 97.98% and would increase the value of deposits covered by deposit insurance to 21.04% compared with 10.77% of the total value of the deposit, currently covered.”

Additionally, Hassan said that increasing the maximum deposit insurance coverage for primary mortgage banks from N500,000 to N2,000,000 would cover all depositors, or 99.99% of them, and increase the value of deposits covered by deposit insurance from the current 40.60% cover to 43.10% of the total deposit value.

Additionally, the Corporation increased the maximum pass-through deposit insurance coverage for each Mobile Money Operator subscriber from N500,000 to N5,000,000.