Zimbabwe company stories that made headlines in 2022

The lithium story

Lithium is a metal that not only helps fire up batteries, but also fires up people’s emotions. There was a rush of new lithium projects in the country, which brought eyeballs to every fresh news article on the metal.

This year, Huayou Cobalt completed the US$422 million acquisition of Prospect Resources and started building its new US$300 million mine at Arcadia. Sinomine bought Bikita Minerals for US$180 million and began its own US$200 million construction. Sabi Star started building a new US$130 million lithium mine in Buhera.

UK’s Premier African Minerals signed an offtake deal with Suzhou TA&A, raising US$35 million, and started building a pilot plant at Fort Rixon. Smaller UK explorers, such as Red Rock and Galileo, also rushed in to stake claims.

Current work at Arcadia Mine, where @LithiumPlz is investing US$300m to develop the mine and build a processing plant. The plant will treat around 4.5m tonnes of ore and produce 400,000 tonnes of lithium concentrate per year.

Huayou Cobalt bought the operation for US$422m in 2021 pic.twitter.com/GOTgLPIk6c

Hot property stories

Property investors looked for niche corners to keep value against inflation. Developers and brick companies like Willdale reported firm orders from projects such as cluster homes.

Warehousing became a bit of a rage – demand from the trade sector and manufacturers.

Mashonaland Holdings bought land in the Pomona industrial park to build a new project, and started constructing a private hospital in Milton Park.

Terrace Africa added a fresh sheen to the property business, opening retail assets Highland Park, Chinamamo Corner and Madokero. The Tigere Fund became Zimbabwe’s first-ever REIT when it was listed on the stock exchange.

After some ribbon cutting at the Madokero project, there were hot online debates about what a mall looks like. The debates went well into the night. And into the next night. And the one after that. Meanwhile, the company was plotting its next project – to finally do something about the messy maze that is the Harare Showgrounds by turning it into – don’t say it too loud – a mall.

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