Foreign
Zimbabwe’s Lithium Processing Plant Makes Her Africa’s Top Producer
Zimbabwe’s first plant to process clean-energy metal lithium — of which it is Africa’s top producer — is up and running, a milestone in its expanding drive to stop the wholesale export of its raw mineral wealth.
Buoyed by the development, the small southern African country is determined to go much further in its drive for local processing of its resources, even eyeing its own production of rechargeable lithium batteries.
It is part of a push by the country — and others on the continent — to add value domestically to raw materials to create jobs and lift export earnings.
“We will no longer tolerate the raw exportation of our wealth,” President Emmerson Mnangagwa said this week as he opened an industrialisation conference.
“We would rather leave our valuable minerals underground than export them without processing them locally. The era of ‘horse and rider’ investment relationships is over.”
In February, Zimbabwe froze exports of raw minerals ahead of a full ban in 2027, announcing it would require “in-country value addition and beneficiation.”
The focus was on raw concentrates of the rechargeable battery ingredient lithium, with most of its hundreds of thousands of tons of annual production shipped out to China, the world’s largest maker of electric vehicles.
The ban sent mining firms scrambling to build plants to process lithium sulfate, a step along the value chain towards battery grade materials.
The first, and only one so far, was set up at Goromonzi, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) east of Harare, a $400-million facility built by Chinese-owned Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe (PLZ) that became fully operational in May.
It was also a first for the continent, mines minister Polite Kambamura said on a tour last week.
“The construction of the first lithium sulphate plant in Africa is behind me, and this was done in Zimbabwe,” he told journalists.
“We are very happy, as a government, to witness this milestone, especially as we continue pushing for local value addition and beneficiation,” he said.
- Batteries and beyond –
Kambamura said PLZ had also nearly completed a plant to refine lithium carbonate, the next point along the processing sequence.
More sulphate processing plants were expected to come on line by the time the ban on lithium concentrate exports comes into force in January 2027, he said.
“The next step will be getting lithium batteries in Zimbabwe,” he said. “We will rest only after we can produce… lithium batteries and solar panels.”
Battery manufacturing requires extensive industrial supply chains that remain concentrated in Asia, with South Africa dominating the emerging sector on the continent.
Besides the focus on lithium, Zimbabwe’s government has other 13 minerals — from cobalt to platinum metals and rare earth elements — on its list of “critical” minerals that cannot be exported in raw form from the start of next year.
- Gold –
The new policy is intended to secure long-term benefits from Zimbabwe’s natural wealth, government spokesman Nick Mangwana said.
“Some of these minerals are finite and future generations may never see them. We do not want them to inherit white elephants,” he told AFP.
The overhaul has extended to the significant gold sector, with the government announcing in May that only indigenous citizens and locally owned companies will be permitted to operate small- and medium-scale mines, which provide livelihoods for thousands.
“This policy is not exclusion, it is structured inclusion,” said Payne Farai Kupfuwa, founder of the Young Miners Foundation, welcoming the move.
The growth of the lithium sector since the February export freeze — with over $1 billion in investments since then — shows that the limits on raw mineral exports “attracts value-adding industries, creates jobs, boosts the economy, and ensures more profits stay within the country,” public policy expert Tedious Ncube told AFP.
By Isa Abdul, Abuja
In Saudi Arabia, a kiss in the mosque would earn you death, as two Bangladeshi nationals, identified as Nazrul Islam Abdul Basir and Siri Akhtar, have reportedly been executed in Saudi Arabia following their conviction over the alleged immoral act inside a Mecca mosque.
Reports circulating on social media indicate that the couple had travelled to Mecca for their honeymoon. But what was to be memorable event is their lives became a suicide mission.
The gesture was wrong in a wrong place, not an expression of gratitude to Allah for their marriage, as far as the Saudis are concerned.
Reports claim the couple’s bodies had been returned to Bangladesh in two coffins for burial.
Some online reports claim the couple were newlyweds executed over a kiss (such as a forehead kiss or a kiss inside the mosque).
However, the Saudi government’s official statement did not detail the exact nature of the act, and conflicting reports—including statements from family members and media checks—disputed whether they were newlyweds or what specific physical contact occurred.
But reports indicate the Bangladesh Consulate General in Jeddah stated they received no advance notice or prior notification from Saudi authorities regarding the executions and have formally requested clarification and acknowledgement.
By Son Tertsea, Abuja
A Catholic priest was crushed to death by a wooden crucifix that pressed him against the pulpit as it fell from the wall while celebrating Mass in the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil on Saturday.
According to reports, shouts of “Father, Father! Call an ambulance!” people at Our Lady of Perpetual Help church could be heard shouting just before a livestreamed broadcast cuts out.
The graphic footage of the accident went viral Sunday on social media and was widely carried by news outlets.
The Archdiocese of Guayaquil mourned the death of the priest, Patricio Sanchez, in a statement and expressed its “solidarity, affection and love” for his family and friends.
Colombian police say the arrested Israeli suspect is wanted by authorities in the United Arab Emirates for fraud, money laundering, forgery, and the use of falsified private documents
Mikhael Mezrahi, the Israeli national, has been detained following an Interpol Red Notice issued against him. The 61-year-old Israeli national known by the nickname “El Banquero” (The Banker) was arrested at El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, Colombia, in a joint operation by Colombian police and Interpol, authorities said.
Following his arrest, he was transferred to Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office as extradition proceedings advanced. Investigators allege that Mezrahi was connected to an international network responsible for defrauding a bank identified as Khartoum in Dubai of approximately $16.7 million using fraudulent financial documents
The suspect reportedly carried four passports while traveling to Venezuela.
Colombian media reported that the suspect, identified in some reports by his full name, Mikhael Jaime Shamis Mezrahi, arrived in Bogotá on a flight from Madrid and was preparing to board a connecting flight to Venezuela.
According to the reports, he was carrying four passports issued by different countries. In addition to Israeli and Mexican citizenship, he reportedly also holds Canadian and Lebanese citizenship.
Alleged fraud network linked to international businesses and money transfers.
According to the reports, Mezrahi’s extensive business activities include securities companies in the United Kingdom and real estate and tourism projects in Canada and Mexico.
He was also reportedly the subject of previous investigations in Canada related to drug trafficking. Investigators allege that proceeds from the fraud were transferred, in part, to a company he owned called WYB AG General Trading.
Colombian police hail arrest as international law enforcement success
Col. Alver Vicente Alfonso Sanabria, director of the Interpol investigation unit within Colombia’s National Police, described the arrest as a significant achievement in international law enforcement cooperation.
“Mezrahi’s arrest is a significant result of the international police cooperation mechanisms led by Interpol’s National Central Bureau in Colombia,” Sanabria said.
“It demonstrates the country’s commitment to combating transnational organized crime,” he added.
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