Sinomine to Acquire Tyranna's Namibe Lithium - Caesium Project in Angola for $1.44 Million

Zimbabwe's sole operating lithium sulphate plant, run by a Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt subsidiary, has no capacity to process third-party concentrate just months before the country's export ban takes effect, according to comments from plant officials during a government site visit. No room for outside supply. The government's January 2027 ban on lithium concentrate exports aims to push miners toward domestic refining, lifting export revenue and local employment. Producers have requested more time to build their own processing plants, but authorities have instead directed them to use existing local facilities of which only the Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe Huayou plant is currently operational, and it cannot absorb outside material. Mine manager comment. "We don't have the capacity to process other minerals from outside. Our concentrator plant produces around 400,000 tons a year, so there's no room for other players," said mine manager Mthokozisi Goliath, noting the sulphate plant can only process what its own concentrator supplies. No delay to deadline. Mines minister Polite Kambamura ruled out pushing back the ban: "The January 2027 deadline is still on... We would like to urge all producers to stick to that deadline." Other plants not ready in time. Processing facilities under construction at other Zimbabwean lithium assets are unlikely to be completed before the deadline. Chinese firms have invested roughly $2 billion into Zimbabwe's lithium sector since 2021. SMM View: This tightens the bottleneck facing Zimbabwe's non-Huayou producers heading into January 2027 with Goromonzi at full capacity and rival plants unfinished, miners without their own processing routes face a stark choice between stockpiling concentrate, absorbing steep discounts on any domestic sale, or halting output altogether. This reinforces the case for closely tracking commissioning timelines at competing plants, as delays there directly translate into constrained sulphate supply and potential price support for processed material once the ban takes hold.

Nigeria has confirmed lithium reserves estimated at 3.3 million metric tonnes at a mining site near Abuja, alongside the identification of a separate polymetallic mineral province in Kaduna State that also carries lithium mineralisation. The findings were disclosed at the African Natural Resources and Energy Investment Summit 2026 in Abuja as part of the country's push to build out its critical minerals sector. The 3.3 million-tonne Abuja Lithium Site estimate was disclosed by Steron Mining and Company Limited during a facility tour for summit delegates. Company officials said the site hosts an estimated 94.8 million tonnes of total mineral resources, including lithium-bearing ore and granitic rock, with verified spodumene grades at licensed Nigerian sites ranging between 2.66% and 5.96% Li₂O with some deposits recording concentrations of up to 13% Li₂O, well above the global commercial average of 1-2%. Steron said it has since also identified tantalite occurrences at the site and continues active exploration. Nigeria's Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, described the Kaduna find as a "world-class" mineral province containing high grade platinum group metals, gold, nickel, copper, lithium and rare earth elements, verified by the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency in collaboration with the discovering private operator. The lithium finds build on an already active Chinese processing footprint in Nigeria. Chinese firms including Jiuling Lithium and Canmax Technology have committed more than $1.3 billion to Nigerian lithium processing capacity since 2023. A $250 million lithium processing plant built by Jiuling and Canmax in Nasarawa state, with capacity to process 3 million tonnes of lithium ore annually, came online in July 2026. SMM View: The Abuja and Kaduna find extend Nigeria's lithium resource base beyond its established Nasarawa and Kogi pegmatite belts, reinforcing the country's position as a fast-growing West African lithium ore source with an unusually mature downstream processing footprint already backed by Chinese capital. Whether the new reserves convert to bankable, licensed production will hinge on further resource verification and offtake commitments, but the existing processing infrastructure lowers the barrier to bringing new Nigerian lithium ore to market compared with peers still lacking domestic conversion capacity.

[July 2026 Hydrometallurgical Black Mass Procurement Volume Down 6% MoM, Sluggish Transactions and Destocking Dominated] According to SMM's latest survey data, in July 2026, the scrap procurement volume (in black mass equivalent terms) of China's mainstream hydrometallurgical plants fell approximately 6% MoM from the June high. However, as market conditions stabilize and demand expectations improve, August procurement volume is expected to rebound 10%. Looking back at the July market, both supply and demand sides and price gaming showed notable structural divergence. The expectation misalignment between grinding enterprises and hydrometallurgical plants was the core factor leading to sluggish market transactions.