Lithium and manufacturing top ZIDA Q1 2023 license...

Lithium and manufacturing top ZIDA Q1 2023 licenses

Audrey Galawu

The Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency has recorded an increase in the number of investor inquiries into lithium mining and the manufacturing sector as indicated by the figures for the first quarter of 2023.

In the Q1 2023 report, ZIDA reported that 36 percent of all licenses issued in the first quarter of 2023 were issued to lithium investors.

At least 42 investors were issued licenses for lithium mining with a projected investment value of US$301.15 million followed by manufacturing with 28 issued licenses and a projected investment value of US$61.12 million.

“The strong trend began in 2022 and is expected to continue for the rest of 2023 and beyond.

“With government’s thrust to encourage more mineral beneficiation, we expect manufacturing, already drawing significant investment, to also continue to be of interest to investors,” ZIDA said.

“In 2022, licenses were issued to investors from 33 countries including Zimbabwe. In Q1 2023, we managed to draw investors from 20 countries.

“During both periods investors from China were the most by a considerable margin with mining being their preferred sector,” reads the report.

Meanwhile, ZIDA Chief Facilitator Never Nyemudzo said the licensing process has become easier for investors as the agency moved to the automated system.

“The licensing process is much easier since we moved from the manual system which took up to 21 days due to manual processing and paper-based registry. It is now possible for investors to electronically submit their applications which takes up to seven days," Nyemudzo said.

The agency is also working towards introducing a self-service platform for investors for submission of applications, renewals, progress reports and investor interface which takes up to four days.