Source: Raw mineral exports drop after lithium ban: ZACC – herald
Herald Reporter
The recently-imposed national ban on all outbound raw minerals has seen a major significant drop in vehicular cargo going outside the country, a recent monitoring survey at all inland exit points shows.
A joint monitoring operation by the Zimbabwe Anti–Corruption Commission and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority revealed that exports of all raw minerals have literally been halted.
Zimbabwe imposed a wholesale export ban on all unprocessed minerals with effect from last month. ZACC spokesman Commissioner Kindness Paradza told The Herald that their joint operation with ZIMRA revealed that the outbound cargo of raw minerals has gone down at all of the country’s ports of entry and exit.
Available statistics indicate that before the ban more than 1 500 trucks full of raw mineral cargo, especially lithium, platinum and chrome, would pass through the Forbes Border Post each week enroute to the Mozambican sea port of Beira.
However, after the ban, only about 200 trucks carrying cleared cargo now pass through the same border each week.
“As ZACC, we are keeping an eye on those breaching the law and violating the ban by exporting unprocessed minerals and trying to corrupt the border officials,” he said.
“We are working 24 hours with ZIMRA to make sure that no trucks carrying unprocessed minerals pass through Zimbabwean borders.”
Zimbabwe has been losing millions of dollars annually through the illegal exportation of unprocessed minerals to overseas markets where they would be processed and added value.
Statistics from the joint monitoring exercise indicate that the ban is already altering cargo movement patterns at several key border posts in Zimbabwe.
At Forbes Border Post, a major export route into Mozambique and towards the port of Beira, mineral cargo traffic decreased sharply within days of the policy’s implementation.
Before the ban, this border experienced some of the highest cargo volumes, with up to 335 cargo trucks per day.
However, the number dramatically plummeted to 17 trucks, the lowest during the monitoring period.
The decline has been linked to the Government’s policy requiring local processing of minerals before export for value addition and product beneficiation.
This initiative aims to curb widespread smuggling and encourage value addition in the country’s mining industry. Lithium, in high global demand for electric vehicle batteries and renewable energy applications, has emerged as one of the nation’s most crucial rare earth minerals.
At Victoria Falls Border Post, export truck numbers fell dramatically from 118 trucks on February 25 to just 18 trucks the next day, indicating that exporters were adapting to the new restrictions.
At Chirundu Border Post, a similar trend emerged, with cargo traffic dropping from 56 prior to the ban to single digits in the days immediately after the policy was implemented.
However, major commercial trade routes have remained mostly stable. At Beitbridge Border Post, the country’s busiest entry point to South Africa, daily export trucks ranged from 460 to 603, indicating consistent truck traffic.
Other crossings such as Kazungula and Plumtree also experienced steady cargo flow. This suggests that the policy mainly impacted mineral export cargo rather than overall commercial trade.
Comm Paradza noted that these figures imply the ban is gradually achieving its goal of reducing exports of unprocessed minerals.
“We are collaborating with Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) around the clock to ensure that no trucks transporting unprocessed minerals cross Zimbabwean borders,” he said.
“We are keeping an open eye and look out for those corrupt elements who would want to by-pass the ban.”
He also stated that ZACC will keep working to support the government’s policy, which aims to make sure Zimbabwe gains more from its mineral resources by promoting local processing of minerals than exporting them internationally in raw form.
The survey also revealed that at Beira Port, there are mountains of raw minerals extracted from Zimbabwe destined for overseas destinations.
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