Zimbabwe's ambition to move beyond raw mineral exports is gathering pace, with Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe targeting the production of crude lithium carbonate at its Arcadia Lithium Mine by the end of 2026, in a move expected to broaden the country's participation in the global electric vehicle battery supply chain.

The planned expansion follows the commissioning of Arcadia's US$400 million lithium sulphate processing plant in 2025 and Africa's first export of lithium sulphate earlier this year.

In an interview with Mining Zimbabwe, PLZ General Manager Haijun Zhu confirmed that the company is installing additional equipment to enable lithium carbonate production before year-end.

"Yes, we are trying to move forward. We hope that by the end of this year, we should be able to produce crude lithium carbonate. We need to add some equipment," Zhu said.

PLZ is targeting a 50:50 production split between lithium sulphate and lithium carbonate, positioning Arcadia to supply inputs for both of the world's dominant battery chemistries.

Lithium carbonate is primarily used in lithium-iron-phosphate batteries, which are increasingly favoured for affordable electric vehicles and energy storage systems, while lithium sulphate is refined into lithium hydroxide used in nickel-manganese-cobalt batteries found in higher-performance electric vehicles.

The company believes the diversification will reduce dependence on a single battery chemistry while expanding its market reach.

The expansion builds on what PLZ has described as a continental milestone.

Following the first shipment of lithium sulphate from Arcadia in April, the company said:

"This inaugural shipment represents the first lithium salt ever produced in Zimbabwe and across Africa, marking a major step forward in regional mineral beneficiation and industrialisation."

The Arcadia processing plant has an annual capacity of 50,000 tonnes of lithium sulphate, although company officials have previously indicated production could exceed 60,000 tonnes depending on plant optimisation.

Speaking during the plant's commissioning, PLZ General Manager Henry Zhu said:

"We will start the first production from the beginning of next year. The quantity of the lithium sulphate should be more than 60,000 metric tons, but it will depend on the configuration of the plant, because it is brand new."

Zimbabwe's beneficiation drive is beginning to show measurable economic results.

Government data indicate that value-added exports rose 34.4 percent to more than US$200 million between January and April 2026, compared with US$149 million during the same period last year.

Engineering steel exports increased 165.6 percent to US$77.9 million, manufactured tobacco exports climbed 33.5 percent to US$45.9 million, while processed mineral exports also recorded strong growth, helping lift total export earnings to US$3.57 billion and reducing the country's trade deficit from US$582 million to US$295 million.

The lithium sector has become central to that strategy following Government's decision to prohibit exports of unbeneficiated lithium concentrates in favour of domestic processing.

Industry observers say the policy is beginning to reshape investment patterns.

According to a recent analysis by the South China Morning Post, Chinese companies have invested more than US$1.4 billion in Zimbabwe's lithium industry to comply with the country's beneficiation requirements and maintain access to its mineral resources.

However, mining analysts caution that producing lithium sulphate and crude lithium carbonate represents only an intermediate stage of the battery value chain.

While both products command significantly higher prices than raw spodumene concentrate, the highest value still lies in refining them into battery-grade chemicals before manufacturing cathode materials, battery cells and finished batteries.

The South China Morning Post noted that Zimbabwe is attempting to break the long-standing "digging and shipping" model by processing lithium domestically, but the country still exports intermediate battery materials for further refining overseas.

Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe has maintained that its investment is part of a longer-term strategy to support Zimbabwe's industrialisation agenda.

When announcing Africa's first lithium sulphate exports, the company said the milestone "underscores the country's emergence as a key player in the global lithium value chain and highlights the progress being made towards in-country value addition.