Trymore Tagwirei
Lithium miners have protested against an apparently unsustainable tax regime, warning that rising costs and unpredictable policy pressures could slow momentum in one of the country’s fastest-growing economic sectors.
With large-scale investments already taking shape in many parts of the country, producers say the current fiscal framework is out of step with the sector’s growth phase and risks undermining plans to drive local beneficiation by 2027.
Through the Lithium Producers Committee, players argue that nearly 40 percent of their revenue is absorbed by taxes and statutory charges, leaving limited capacity for reinvestment into value-addition infrastructure.
“We are paying 40 percent of our sales to the government. We try our best to contribute, but we feel we are being treated unfairly.”
The statement reads that the current tax structure includes a 10 percent export tax on unbeneficiated lithium, 7 percent royalties, a 3 percent community development levy, 1 percent marketing fees payable to the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe, and 15.5 percent VAT on applicable transactions.
It adds that when combined with corporate taxes, payroll obligations, and foreign currency retention requirements, the burden rises significantly even before accounting for operational expenses such as labor, electricity, and machinery.
Producers say these pressures are increasingly making operations difficult to sustain, particularly as input costs continue to climb.
“The lesson is that miners are not resisting beneficiation; they invest when the economics make sense,” the producers said in a statement.
The industry players argue that the recovery of such by-products is often not viable under the prevailing tax framework. They say the government’s ban on raw lithium exports in February has further complicated operations, forcing companies to stockpile ore.
Speaking during a media tour in 2025, then-Bikita Minerals Chief Executive Officer Zhou Gong pleaded for tax holidays for lithium producers in acknowledgment of the various Corporate Social Responsibility projects that they are carrying out.
