Lithium rush a crossroads for Zim's future

Zimbabwe's government can use the critical minerals surge to empower communities and foster inclusive development

- Sikhululekile Mashingaidze & Stephen Buchanan-Clarke

Africa, which holds significant estimated shares of the world’s total reserves of bauxite (24%), cobalt (49.4%), copper (7%), graphite (21%), lithium (6%), manganese (43%), nickel (4.2%) and rare earth minerals (2%), is at the centre of a global race for critical minerals required in the clean energy transition.

Exploitation of these resources should help to boost trade, industrialisation and development, but Africa’s track record is littered with examples to the contrary. Resource booms become drivers of corruption, conflict and ecological destruction and weaken governance institutions.

Given the continent’s economic problems, rapidly expanding population and mounting environmental pressures, there is a closing window of opportunity to ensure this new wave of mineral extraction breaks from historical patterns to become a catalyst for inclusive economic growth and long-term sustainability.

Zimbabwe's lithium sector exemplifies both the opportunities and dangers inherent in the global race for critical minerals a subject explored at a May 2025 conference hosted by the Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) titled Ensuring Equitable Distribution of Costs and Benefits in Critical Minerals Development.

Lithium, used in consumer electronics (including batteries), electric vehicles and renewable energy systems, has become an essential mineral to many of the modern industries driving economic prosperity and the global transition to clean energy. As drone warfare continues to revolutionise modern warfare, access to lithium-ion and lithium-polymer batteries has also become an important national defence issue from Washington to Beijing.