A major Zimbabwean mining company has agreed to start shipping a type of lithium ore called spodumene concentrate to China next year, Deutsche Welle reported.
Lithium is the cornerstone of a transformation in the market for electric vehicle technology, which has prompted increased demand for lithium production from Mines in Zimbabwe, where there are large deposits of the mineral.
The Zulu lithium mine is a subsidiary of Premier African Minerals.
The company chose Suzhou TA&A Ultra Clean Technology Co. from a pool of Chinese, European and Australian investors, George Roach, the company's chief executive, said Monday.
"At one point, I was involved in 11 separate negotiations, and everyone wanted Zulu," Roach said. "It was a very intense time."
Suzhou Tianhua Ultra Clean has agreed to invest $35 million (34.71 million euros) to build a pilot plant at the Zulu mine, which will help it produce up to 50,000 tons of lithium-bearing rock a year. The new investment puts the company on a path to vertically integrate its lithium battery supply chain.
Suzhou Tianhua Ultra Clean is also the co-owner and supplier of yibin Tianyi spodumene concentrate, China's leading lithium producer. Suzhou co-owns Yibin Tianyi with CATL, a Chinese battery maker. Ningde times produces more than 30 percent of the world's lithium-ion batteries.
Similar to Suzhou Tianhua Ultra Clean, Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt last month announced plans to invest $300m in a hard rock lithium mine near the Zimbabwean capital.
In an update on the project, Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe, a subsidiary of Huayou, said the money would be used to "construct a processing plant with an annual capacity of approximately 4.5 million tonnes of ore and 400,000 tonnes of lithium concentrate".
Lithium is an important ingredient in making batteries for electric cars. A shift in battery technology has led to a surge in the market for its price.
While electric vehicle battery makers used to favor nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) batteries, lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) batteries are gaining popularity. Higher lithium prices are already affecting the price of electric cars, with Tesla raising prices by a hefty $6,000 this month.
Zimbabwe has the world's largest lithium reserves. Zimbabwe's government has identified mining as a key component of its vision to transform the country into a middle - and high-income economy by 2030.
