HARARE, Jul. 22 (NewsDay Live) \u2013 Mutapa Energy Resources says it has certified a 39.9-million-tonne lithium resource at its Sandawana project, marking a major milestone that it believes will unlock international financing and position Zimbabwe more strongly in the global battery minerals market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The State-owned mining company said an independent geological assessment conducted under internationally recognised reporting standards confirmed the resource, making the project \u201cbankable\u201d \u2014 a key requirement for attracting global mining investors and lenders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The certified resource covers only Block A, about 30% of Mutapa\u2019s 3,800-hectare mining concession, leaving significant exploration potential across the remaining claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis means we have a resource that has been confirmed by a competent person. It becomes bankable,\u201d Mutapa Energy Resources chief executive Innocent Rukweza said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The announcement comes as global demand for lithium, a critical mineral used in electric vehicle batteries, energy storage systems and renewable energy technologies, continues to drive competition among mining jurisdictions seeking investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mutapa said the first phase of exploration involved an 11-month drilling programme covering 103,000 metres and the collection and analysis of 33,000 samples at a cost of US$24 million<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The programme confirmed a 39.9-million-tonne lithium resource, of which 28.7 million tonnes have been classified as measured resources, representing about 72% of the total resource.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is my singular honour to announce that, to the best of our knowledge, we are the first Zimbabwean mine with measured resources constituting 72% of our total resource,\u201d Rukweza said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the high proportion of measured resources gives investors greater confidence in the quality and reliability of the deposit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The company has already mined about two million tonnes of ore from the project and is constructing a three-million-tonne-per-year concentrator plant as it prepares for large-scale production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Supporting infrastructure includes road construction, the relocation of 104 families, and the development of essential public facilities, including a school and clinic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mutapa plans to invest a further US$6 million in a second exploration phase involving 23,500 metres of drilling and about 8,500 samples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A third phase, budgeted at US$12 million, will include 70,000 metres of drilling and more than 30,000 additional samples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The company aims to increase the resource from nearly 40 million tonnes to as much as 90 million tonnes, with Blocks B and C \u2014 which account for roughly 70% of the Sandawana claims \u2014 still largely unexplored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Geochemical and geophysical surveys are expected to begin on those areas to determine the next phase of exploration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beyond lithium, Mutapa said Sandawana also hosts commercially significant deposits of tantalum and niobium, two strategic minerals used in advanced electronics and industrial manufacturing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The announcement comes as Zimbabwe seeks to attract greater investment into its mining sector while moving beyond raw mineral exports and expanding domestic value addition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Industry analysts say projects with independently verified resources, defined development plans and processing capacity are better positioned to secure financing despite volatility in global lithium prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the certified resource strengthens Sandawana\u2019s investment case, the project\u2019s long-term success will depend on securing capital, completing processing infrastructure and navigating fluctuating global lithium markets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
HARARE, Jul. 22 (NewsDay Live) \u2013 Mutapa Energy Resources says it has certified a 39.9-million-tonne lithium resource at its Sandawana project, marking a major milestone that it believes will unlock international financing and position Zimbabwe more strongly in the global battery minerals market. The State-owned mining company said an independent geological assessment conducted under internationally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/139.84.241.235\/mer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/139.84.241.235\/mer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/139.84.241.235\/mer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/139.84.241.235\/mer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/139.84.241.235\/mer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/139.84.241.235\/mer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":169,"href":"http:\/\/139.84.241.235\/mer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166\/revisions\/169"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/139.84.241.235\/mer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/139.84.241.235\/mer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/139.84.241.235\/mer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/139.84.241.235\/mer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}