Beijing has urged Chinese companies operating in Zimbabwe to strengthen risk controls and compliance after Harare abruptly suspended exports of raw minerals and lithium concentrates last month, citing malpractice and leakages.
China’s move is an implicit acknowledgement that even its closest African partners can impose abrupt policy shifts that test its investment model as an increasing number of countries on the continent move to capture value from their natural resources. Zimbabwe supplies roughly 15% of China’s lithium concentrate, a key mineral used in making batteries for electric cars and electronics.
Beijing’s warning lands as Ghana advances its own lithium ambitions, with the country’s parliament ratifying Atlantic Lithium’s Ewoyaa mining lease, a project geared toward supplying the US and deepening the continent’s role in competing battery-metal supply chains.