Bikita Minerals targets US$500 million 2023 export...

Bikita Minerals targets US$500 million 2023 export revenue as it trials production on new lithium processing plants

Zim Now writer

Lithium miner Bikita Minerals has announced it expects to earn US$500 million in exports and create more jobs after the successful completion of its new spodumene and petallite processing plants and started trial productions.

“The new plants will create an additional 1 000 jobs and the company projects to generate US$500 million from exports in 2023,” said the Sinomine owned company in a statement released this Monday.

The miner said the two plants will enhance performance outlook through greatly increased capacity for beneficiation with the new Gravity separation plant (Petalite) having an annual capacity of 2 million tons (petalite concentrate) and the newly constructed Flotation plant (Spodumene) coming with an annual capacity of 2 million tons (spodumene concentrate).

“The expected revenue this year is US$500 million. In 2024 (we are expecting) US$600 million, and in 2025 we are expecting US$800 million,” mine manager David Mwanza told delegates at the Chamber of Mines conference in Victoria Falls earlier this month.

Sinomine Group has invested over US$300 million towards plant expansion and exploration since acquiring the mine

The miner said the plants are expected to respectively produce 480 000 tons of petalite and 300 000 tons of high-quality chemical grade spodumene concentrate annually.

Bikita Minerals currently employs 860 workers and holds about 11 million tonnes of lithium, the world’s largest-known deposit of the mineral.