Zimbabwe government-owned Verify Engineering is seeking debt financing and technical partnerships to roll out a $242 million lithium salts and electrolyte plant in the country’s southeastern Masvingo province.
The multi-million-dollar project comes at a time when the global lithium market is accelerating, while Zimbabwe is actively tightening its mining licensing and export regulations.
According to the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (Zida), the project – with projected 10-year revenues of US$2.3 billion and a 43.16 percent return on investment – entails the development of an integrated processing plant for the conversion of locally mined spodumene concentrate into battery-grade lithium carbonate, battery-grade lithium hydroxide, and lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF ) electrolyte.
“The plant will have an installed annual production capacity of 5,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate, 1,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide, and 6,500 tonnes of LiPF,” the investment promotion agency said in a June 2026 projects prospectus.
“The promoter is seeking debt, equity, convertible, technical, mezzanine partnership structures to undertake full feasibility studies,” Zida said.
Verify is a wholly state-owned technology development company operating under the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development. It is mandated to drive industrialization through local, heritage-based science and technological innovation.
The project – currently at preparation stage, with business plans and prefeasibility studies completed – includes the engineering, equipment, processing plant, working capital, and pre-operational costs.
The global lithium market is currently on a boom driven by, among others, increase in production of electric vehicles (EVs), grid-scale battery storage systems, renewable energy integration, and energy transition policies worldwide.
“As of December 2024, the global lithium market size stood at approximately 0.56 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE), projected to grow at a CAGR of 23.22 percent to reach approximately 1.6 million tonnes LCE by 2029,” Zida said.
“A projected global supply deficit of approximately 200,000 tonnes LCE by 2029 creates a strong supply opportunity for new entrants into the lithium chemicals market.