"Locals slam Zimbabwe for turning a blind eye to Chinese miner’s violations" 1 April 2024

Mining workers and villagers near the Bikita Minerals lithium mine in Zimbabwe accuse the government and Chinese mining company Sinomine Resource Group of sidelining environmental and social standards in the scramble for lithium.

After a series of displacements, spills, labor abuses, a death, and little action by authorities, locals and experts accuse the government of failing to enforce its own laws and letting bad mining practices run loose.

Collins Nikisi, a spokesperson for Bikita Minerals, Sinomine’s local subsidiary, said some villagers reside within the mine’s leased land, but the company has agreed to co-exist with them, “a clear testimony of the good relationships we enjoy.”

He confirmed there were “a few farmers” whose farmland was affected during the construction of the Bikita-Gutu public road. However, the mine reportedly consulted with the villagers, reached and signed a settlement with them, and compensated displaced villagers with money to build new homes last year. Villagers whose homesteads or land were affected by the construction of an extra high-voltage power transmission line are being compensated by ZETDC, the state-owned utility, Nikisi told Mongabay. The company didn’t share a copy of the agreement for Mongabay to see.

According to industry experts, in theory, Chinese investments come with an increasingly robust set of ESG standards, but in practice these aren’t followed if host countries “shy away” from making such demands from their new partners.

Zimbabwe, under economic stress, holds Africa’s largest lithium reserves and sees potential for an economic boost from mining the critical mineral, which represents the country’s fastest growing industry, with companies from China as the largest share of investors