Lithium Battery Industry's Access Threshold Expected to Raise

A government investigation into the August 13 collapse of a tailings storage facility at Samancor's Dikwena Chrome complex near Brits, North West, has found the facility was showing persistent seepages prior to the failure and that the collapse was reasonably foreseeable based on available evidence, according to a Notice of Orders issued by the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources and reported by Daily Maverick. The department's findings also indicate the facility appears not to have been registered with the Department of Water and Sanitation, raising questions about compliance oversight at the site before the incident occurred. The facility, known as the Inyoni tailings storage facility, forms part of Samancor's Dikwena chrome plant complex and is operated by contractor One Chrome, a company reported to have no public website. The collapse sent slurry into the neighboring Eland mine, owned by Northam Platinum, which briefly closed an access road as a precaution. Updated reporting indicates one injury was recorded alongside no fatalities. Samancor Chrome itself is unlisted and is no longer a member of the Minerals Council South Africa, a body whose members commit to industry safety and governance standards. The findings add a regulatory compliance dimension to a case that had previously centered on the physical and environmental impact of the failure. South Africa's tailings storage facility guidelines date back to 1998 and are currently under revision, and at least one senior mining executive has said they were unaware of any operation that actually follows them, pointing to a broader industry gap in registration and compliance practices beyond this single incident. The scope of enforcement action beyond the Notice of Orders, along with the full extent of environmental damage and rehabilitation costs, has not yet been disclosed.

Zimbabwe's Deputy Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Dr. Eng. C. Makwiranzou, presented chrome among a slate of commodity-specific investment opportunities at the Zimbabwe Mining Investment Seminar, held during the Africa Down Under 2026 conference in Perth. Rather than a general appeal for capital, Makwiranzou detailed opportunities across lithium, platinum group metals, chrome, gold, iron and steel, and coal, positioning the pitch as a targeted approach to Australian mining investors specifically. On chrome, Makwiranzou pointed to Zimbabwe's regional beneficiation hubs policy, under which chrome-producing areas are earmarked to specialise in ferrochrome and chromium alloy production, describing the framework as "industrial policy with a map attached." He identified patient capital, funding with a long-term investment horizon suited to the extended payback periods typical of smelting and refining infrastructure, as the critical ingredient Zimbabwe needs from prospective investors to realise its beneficiation ambitions. The chrome pitch was delivered alongside a broader downstream-processing narrative: Makwiranzou also flagged a gap in downstream processing within Zimbabwe's platinum group metals sector, where existing operations including Zimplats, Mimosa, Unki and Karo have created scope for further exploration along the Great Dyke's under-explored margins. Taken together, the presentation signals Zimbabwe is actively marketing its beneficiation policy abroad rather than relying solely on domestic and Chinese investment to build out chrome smelting capacity, a shift worth tracking for what it might mean for the pool of investors ultimately financing the country's ferrochrome ambitions.