announced the suspension of mineral exports<\/a> on February 25, citing alleged malpractices and leakages.<\/p>\nChinese mining firms including Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, Sinomine, Chengxin Lithium Group, Yahua and the Tsingshan Holding Group dominate Zimbabwe\u2019s lithium and chrome mining sectors.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the Chinese embassy in Zimbabwe told Chinese enterprises and nationals to uphold local laws and regulations, and to protect their rights and interests through legal channels.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrior to making investments in Zimbabwe, investors shall conduct a comprehensive and in-depth assessment of the local business environment, industrial policies and relevant laws and regulations,\u201d the embassy said.<\/p>\n
It added investors should \u201cfully consider various investment and operational risks, and make informed decisions so as to avoid losses resulting from government policy changes\u201d.<\/p>\n
Non-governmental organizations in Zimbabwe frequently accuse Chinese businesses of failing to uphold environmental and labour standards. The Chamber of Chinese Enterprises in Zimbabwe, which represents major Chinese firms in the country, denies the charges.<\/p>\n
China has emerged as a major investor in Zimbabwe\u2019s economy, with billions of dollars in the mining and energy sectors since 2000, when the African country fell out with the west over allegations of human rights abuses.<\/p>\n
Chinese battery metal firms have invested over $1.4 billion in Zimbabwean lithium assets since 2021, helping consolidate China\u2019s dominance of the battery metal supply chain.<\/p>\n
In 2025, Zimbabwe exported 1.128 million tons of lithium-bearing spodumene concentrate to China, accounting for about 15% of the Asian country\u2019s lithium concentrate imports last year.<\/p>\n
(By Nelson Banya; Editing by Louise Heavens)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Bikita Minerals China\u2019s government on Thursday told Chinese businesses operating in Zimbabwe to \u201cstrengthen risk prevention and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64,63,99,164],"class_list":["post-551769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BM_Li_wastes-1024x562.png\")
Credit: Bikita Minerals<\/p>\n