China’s Zijin to start producing lithium from Congo in early 2026
The Manono project is also claimed by Australia’s AVZ Minerals, which has started arbitration proceedings against the African nation’s government
China’s Zijin Mining Group aims to start producing lithium in the Democratic Republic of Congo early next year from one of the world’s largest deposits of the battery metal.
Zijin is accelerating activity at a site in southeast Congo that is still claimed by AVZ Minerals. The Australian firm has initiated arbitration proceedings against the African nation’s government as part of its efforts to recover an exploration licence.
The Manono project is expected to start production during the first quarter of 2026, a Zijin spokesperson said by email. That would make it the first operating lithium mine in Congo, the world’s second-largest copper producer and biggest source of cobalt.
Chinese companies including Zijin are investing heavily in Africa’s lithium resources from Mali to Zimbabwe, even after prices slumped almost 90 per cent from a peak in 2022. They are seeking to lock down feedstock for refineries at home in anticipation of soaring future consumption of the metal.
While the current supply glut is likely to continue in the short term, there is still “room for demand from the global new energy vehicle and energy storage industries” over a longer horizon, Zijin said in September. The company’s other lithium projects are in China and Argentina.
Zijin – which has copper, gold, lithium and zinc mines across five continents – is developing Manono in a joint venture with the Congolese state and was granted a full mining licence four months ago. The asset is “sizeable”, with an average grade of 1.51 per cent lithium oxide, the spokesperson said.
