Shamva, Zimbabwe – On a winter’s morning in Shamva, in Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland Central province, Brenda, a single mom of three, is on the hunt for lithium ore.

The 39-year-old, who requested that solely her first identify be used, makes use of a decide to interrupt up onerous rocks earlier than shovelling the rock ores right into a wheelbarrow which is then pushed by one in all her employees and emptied onto a heap.

“Mining is labour intensive, however I soldier on,” stated the tall, broad-shouldered lady carrying a blue employees uniform with inexperienced reflectors and a yellow security helmet.

Round her, dozens of different artisanal miners work tirelessly to extract ore within the lithium floor mining space situated about 90km (56 miles) northeast of the capital Harare.

“I’ve no limits. I take each scenario as it’s,” Brenda advised Al Jazeera. “I keep in mind I used to be the one lady in a chemistry class again at school. I realized to be courageous, brave and impartial.”

Zimbabwe has the world’s fifth-largest reserves of lithium – which is a vital part of the rechargeable batteries utilized in issues like cellphones and electrical automobiles.

In 2021, an output of 1,200 tonnes of lithium was recorded within the nation and it’s set to change into Zimbabwe’s third largest mineral export after the gold and platinum group of metals.

There are a number of firms engaged in lithium exploration and mining within the nation, however small-scale miners have developed an curiosity within the sector too.

Pushed by a excessive unemployment charge and extended financial hardships, hundreds of people like Brenda are getting permits and licences from the Zimbabwean authorities to mine the mineral in lithium-rich areas.

Uncooked lithium export ban

Throughout Southern Africa, there are wealthy reserves of worthwhile pure assets – although solely a small minority has traditionally profited from this. To extend the advantages for native economies, regional nations have more and more sought to remodel uncooked minerals into higher-value merchandise regionally.

As part of these efforts, Zimbabwe’s authorities moved to ban exports of unprocessed uncooked lithium in 2022, arguing that the nation would get extra income from the mineral if firms had been allowed to export solely processed lithium.

The ban was additionally geared toward curbing the smuggling of uncooked lithium via the nation’s porous borders with neighbouring South Africa and Mozambique.

Nevertheless, it has had hostile penalties for a lot of small-scale miners working within the sector.

When the ban was put in place, the demand for processed lithium – that may very well be exported internationally – grew, whereas the demand for uncooked lithium slowed as few had the means to course of it. Whereas some mining firms scrambled to construct vegetation to course of uncooked lithium into concentrates for export, the stockpiles of uncooked lithium grew, and costs fell.

Artisanal miners like Brenda who’re on the backside of the lithium worth chain have been hit onerous. She stated for the reason that ban was imposed her income have gone down as unprocessed lithium fell to the present worth of $100 per tonne from as excessive as $1,200 per tonne beforehand.

“Fairly quite a few folks have chickened out of the enterprise,” stated Brenda, who makes use of her earnings from mining to feed, pay college charges and purchase garments and different necessities for her kids.

“Just a few like me who had been constant have remained within the lithium mining trade. Those that had been after income couldn’t survive at such low costs,” she stated.

‘Lengthy worth chain’

Brenda first began within the mining and minerals trade by shopping for and promoting semiprecious gems after a pal launched her to the enterprise. Then in 2014, she ventured into lithium mining.

The lithium floor space the place Brenda and her group work is noisy and stuffed with a number of different artisanal mining groups drilling and blasting rocks.

Brenda began right here after she discovered some lithium deposits in a bushy space, pegged it and registered the place with the mining authorities. To mine it, she pays royalties to the federal government for a allow.

She taught herself mining by studying and researching about totally different gems and, utilizing her connections with artisanal miners, went on to make use of 10 employees – two machine operators and eight common employees – to assist her supply lithium.

However Brenda doesn’t have the assets to course of the lithium, so she sells the uncooked mineral to Chinese language consumers in Zimbabwe, who then course of it regionally earlier than exporting it.

“The Chinese language are related. We can’t do with out them. They decide the costs. Our choices are restricted,” she stated.

Economist Victor Bhoroma stated many of the lithium ore consumers have entry to secondary producers and world consumers.

“They’re a part of a protracted worth chain the place native artisanal miners solely get lower than 3 p.c of the output worth per tonne.”

Bhoroma stated “it’s the finest follow to have processed lithium exports as a substitute of uncooked stone exports”, but additionally stated the ban has had an impression on pricing and oversupply, as most can now not export the commodity or simply promote it.

Since December 2022, world costs of lithium have additionally plummeted due to a number of components together with oversupply of the battery steel.

Scramble for lithium

Because the world transitions to wash vitality to scale back emissions which worsens local weather change, lithium is a key part for batteries utilized in electrical automobiles.

Although lithium mining just isn’t new in Zimbabwe, because it was first extracted by Bikita Minerals within the Nineteen Fifties, there was rising demand extra lately.

China, which is the main client of lithium given its position within the manufacturing and exports of lithium-ion batteries, is main the scramble for the sunshine steel in Zimbabwe.

“China is by far the important thing participant in lithium demand and battery manufacturing,” stated Bhoroma.

China has been putting offers in Zimbabwe, profiting from cordial relations with the federal government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Mnangagwa, his members of the family and different senior high authorities officers are beneath United States sanctions over alleged human rights violations and corruption. China, in the meantime, claims its strategy to different nations relies on a precept of noninterference.

This has helped it safe mining licences in a number of African nations. One such enterprise is Zimbabwe’s largest lithium mine, Bikita Minerals, acquired by China’s Sinomine Useful resource Group in a deal value $180m to extend capability in February 2022.

Situated within the Bikita hills of Masvingo province in southeast Zimbabwe, Bikita Minerals holds 11 million tonnes of lithium – the world’s largest-known deposit of lithium.

Tapiwa O’Brien Nhachi, an impartial local weather and pure assets researcher, stated the Chinese language rush in each sector in Zimbabwe considerably exhibits the extension of the “look East” coverage, a overseas coverage technique to strengthen financial and political ties with China adopted by late President Robert Mugabe within the 2000s when the US and Western nations first imposed sanctions over human rights abuses.

As of 2023, there have been seven totally different lithium exploration and mining tasks at numerous growth phases throughout the nation, based on the Zimbabwe Environmental Legislation Affiliation (ZELA), a premier public curiosity environmental legislation group.

Whereas artisanal miners like Brenda use wheelbarrows, picks and shovels, in addition to small compressors and water pumps throughout mining, huge firms have earth-moving machines like excavators and backhoe loaders to maneuver rocks in addition to drills and explosives to blast rocks.

With new firms beginning manufacturing, the Southern Africa nation’s lithium exports spiked by 854.7 p.c from $70.6m in 2022 to $674m final 12 months.

The federal government needs mining firms to additional course of lithium to supply lithium carbonate or hydroxide, which is very valued, and to make lithium-ion batteries regionally, though consultants doubt its feasibility due to low energy provide within the nation.

The China issue

Whereas the Chinese language will assist Zimbabwe’s goal to generate $20bn from mining by 2030, there’s a worth to be paid by the locals from the hunt for lithium by miners from the Asian nation.

Farai Maguwu, director of the Centre for Pure Assets Governance (CNRG), an organisation which defends the rights of communities affected by extractive industries, stated the Chinese language extractive mannequin is detested by patriotic and accountable Zimbabweans.

“They bribe highly effective politicians to purchase their silence once they violate folks’s rights,” Maguwu advised Al Jazeera, echoing accusations which were made towards Chinese language mining firms that they’ve evicted villagers from ancestral lands with out following due course of, and that they’re accountable for environmental, air and water air pollution in lithium-rich areas throughout Zimbabwe.

“Within the Sabi Star case, displaced households had been shocked to see their Chief coming with the Chinese language to inform them they don’t personal the land they occupied, as a substitute it was his land, therefore they need to obey the instruction to vacate,” Maguwu remarked.

“In Bikita, it was much more violent – trenches had been dug round folks’s homesteads leading to some abandoning their properties.”

Researcher Nhachi likened the operations of the Chinese language within the sector to what African nations suffered beneath years of colonialism, when European nations expropriated their assets and shipped them again residence.

“China is now doing the identical, they’re plundering Zimbabwe’s lithium disregarding, correct labour follow, environmental, social, and cultural facets in areas they’re working in, as an illustration, Bikita,” he stated.

The Chinese language embassy in Harare has all the time maintained that Chinese language firms within the mining sector abide by Zimbabwe’s legal guidelines throughout their operations. In 2022, when the embassy was responding to a press release launched by civil society teams, it stated Chinese language firms within the nation are law-abiding and have regard for atypical residents via their company social accountability.

Chinese language Embassy assertion in response to “Civil Society Assertion on Chinese language Investments in Zimbabwe”–xenophobic and faux claims condemnable, competitors welcome in who does extra for Zim folks. pic.twitter.com/0crmGARtKp

— Chinese language Embassy in Zimbabwe (@ChineseZimbabwe) January 24, 2022

On the bottom, in the meantime, Zimbabwe’s artisanal miners are centered on discovering methods to navigate the consequences of the uncooked lithium export ban, together with decrease costs of the “white gold” and their very own dwindling funds.

Brenda, who sees herself as an professional in colored gemstone identification, is now diversifying her mining enterprise to outlive.

“I simply switched to different minerals that are at the moment paying to fend for my household. I’m into largely gems and base metals. I give attention to beryl and quartz,” she stated of her work as a travelling gemstone salesperson who trades all through the nation.

“I take pleasure in figuring out various kinds of minerals,” she added, constructive concerning the enterprise. “There are such a lot of within the nation. With gems, I mine or purchase then add worth by slicing and sharpening for jewelry and provide.”