Zimbabwe Declares Lithium, PGMs, Gold Among Strategic Minerals, Bans Raw Exports

The Zimbabwean government has introduced sweeping new regulations governing the country’s vast mineral wealth, in a decisive move to capitalize on the global energy transition Effective May 22, 2026, the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development officially classified dozens of resources into three protected tiers, imposing strict export bans on raw materials and mandating state ownership in key mining operations.

The newly gazetted “Mineral Classification and Declaration” is designed to force local downstream beneficiation. According to the directive, it is now illegal to export any listed mineral in its raw or unbeneficiated form.
Miners can only bypass this ban if they secure a conditional transitional plan approved directly by the Minister.

Crucially, these plans must include strict, hard-coded timelines for establishing local processing facilities that refine the minerals beyond the basic concentrate stage. Furthermore, all future applications for mining rights concerning these specific minerals will now require the Minister’s prior approval.

The government announced it will exercise a mandatory minimum shareholding in the exploitation of these minerals. This state intervention will be executed through designated Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs).

The policy document justifies this aggressive recalibration by citing the increasing global demand driven by the Energy Transition Drive. The government established these criteria to protect highly vulnerable supply chains, leverage Zimbabwe’s production dominance, and ensure the extraction of high-value minerals generates substantial domestic employment.

The sweeping declaration categorises the nation’s geological wealth into three distinct schedules:
• Critical Minerals: Targeting key battery, tech, and transition metals. The list includes Lithium, Nickel, Cobalt, Graphite, Copper, Rare Earth Elements, Chrome, Platinum Group Metals (PGMs), Manganese, Antimony, Uranium, Ruthenium, Tungsten, and Niobium.
• Special Critical Minerals: Metallurgical Coal is the sole mineral granted this unique designation.
• Strategic Minerals: This tier ring-fences traditional economic anchors and industrial fundamentals, including Gold, Diamonds, Coal, Iron Ore, Oil and Gas, Limestone, Potash, Phosphorus, and Pyrites.

This bold policy overhaul signals Harare’s clear intent to pivot from being merely an exporter of raw earth to securing a more lucrative, industrialised foothold in the global green energy supply chain.