Editor
Government has commended Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe (PLZ) for the remarkable socio-economic progress the company has achieved since the establishment of its projects in Goromonzi District.
In a recent tour of the mine, Mashonaland East Minister for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Dr Apollonia Munzverengwi praised the company’s commitment to investment in the country.
She highlighted PLZ’s impressive timeline, noting that the company completed exploration, mine development, and plant establishment in less than two years before entering the export market.
This achievement, according to her, demonstrates PLZ’s dedication as a serious investor, aligning with Zimbabwe’s “open for business” mantra.
“We are now walking tall as a province; we are standing tall amongst other provinces and I am impressed and excited that we are the province hosting the biggest deposit (lithium) in the country as of now.
“They are here to prove a point that Zimbabwe is open for business. We are witnessing the ease of doing business in Zimbabwe today and we were here recently with His Excellency commissioning the plant.
“Within two months I was told they are exporting plus or minus 100 000 tonnes of lithium per month and we are expecting to exceed that figure and maybe to go beyond 200 000 tonnes per month. What it means to us as a province is that the company has created employment for our people. I have heard the company employs plus or minus 2 500 people and out of that 80 percent is the local people and out of that 65 percent is from Goromonzi District,” she said.
The Minister emphasized the positive impact of PLZ’s operations on employment and the local community. The company has reportedly created approximately 2,500 jobs, with 80 percent of the workforce being locals and 65 percent from Goromonzi District.
The employment opportunities generated by PLZ have benefited not only the direct employees but also various downstream businesses.
“So, you can then see the level of employment that has been created by this company at the end of the day, downstream, a lot of companies are benefiting from the establishment of this company. The company itself is involved in a lot of community activities, be it in health — they are providing health facilities, in education they are building schools for our people and infrastructure development.”
Minister Munzverengwi said PLZ needs to move to manufacture lithium batteries locally and export them to boost Zimbabwe’s economy.
PLZ director in the general manager’s office Mr Yu Long said they will look into manufacturing lithium batteries though it is a long process.
“As PLZ we will follow the procedure step by step. Firstly, we need to finish the concentrate then we go to another step of making lithium sulphate and we continue up to furthering our activities to the manufacturing of batteries,” he said.
