No More Exports!

It's about to be a bad time for any industry with its hands in lithium - which to be clear, is almost all of them, including some that may not be expected (for example, pharmaceuticals). Why has Zimbabwe decided to make this decision? In short, to help themselves increase their standing as a country and the quality of life for its people. By halting the export of raw lithium, Zimbabwe should be able to get some level of gain in terms of value addition to existing lithium stores and it would stop losing money in mineral proceeds to foreign companies.

Zimbabwe's ministry of Mines and Mining Development added to the Base Minerals Export Control Act to stop the exports such that the vision of their current president to see the country become an "upper-middle income economy." It's worth noting that the Zimbabwe government is claiming that it is losing more than $1 billion in mineral revenue due to smuggling and externalization to South Africa and the United Arab Emirates with gold being the most smuggled mineral. Mineral exports account for roughly 60% of Zimbabwe's export earnings according to a mining report generated by the London School of Economics.

In addition, like the proposed American gas oven ban, the lithium export ban doesn't completely ban all lithium exports. It simply states that lithium exports cannot happen unless there is written permission from the minister (we are assuming that means the mining minister, but it was unclear based on the articles we reviewed). According to the deputy mining minister, mining companies that are building processing plants will also be excluded from the export ban.

The whole purpose is to process the lithium and create some of the products that are being used by other entities, largely being batteries. When we say batteries, we aren't just referring to AA or AAA batteries you buy in stores that also include high energy-density rechargeable batteries used in larger electric products such as electric vehicles. Well, and in smaller electric products too, such as your phone. In that regard, many western companies have been accused of exploiting Africa's lithium mines and leaving the countries whose exports are bought poorer via processing the purchased minerals and selling them back in products as mentioned above. Hence, Zimbabwe wanting to cut out the middleman and wanting to do the lithium processing "in country" so that they can fetch a higher price for the mined mineral.

Ending on a fun fact, we bet you don't know some of the other uses of lithium outside of electronics! For example, did you know that lithium is used to make high-temperature lubricating grease or that it can be used as a high-energy additive to rocket propellents? Lithium is also used in the medical setting, and no not in tools, but as a consumable medicine; that's right lithium is something that can be taken orally to treat things such as bipolar disorder or major depressive disorder. Keep in mind that there are some major side effects, so it's not necessarily the first choice in treatment (much like risperidone, which causes permanent shakes).

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