Huayou Cobalt Will Invest $300m in Lithium Mines in Zimbabwe

Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Plans to invest $300 million to fast-track the development of a lithium mine and processing plant at its newly acquired Arcadia project in Zimbabwe, Reuters reported.

Hurray, one of the world's largest cobalt producers, recently completed the $422m acquisition of a hard rock lithium mine outside Harare from Prospect Resources, an Australian-listed company, and other Zimbabwean minority stakes.

Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe, a subsidiary of Huayou, said in an update on the project: "We intend to rapidly develop the project over the next year and invest about $300 million to develop the mine, build a process plant with a processing capacity of about 4.5 million tons of ore and 400,000 tons of lithium concentrate per year."

The Arcadia project is expected to deliver its first spodumene and transspospoxite in 2023, the company said.

soa锂价格red this year as carmakers have struggled to get hold of the metal used in electric car batteries.

Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe says it will employ 600 locals during the construction phase and create up to 900 jobs once production starts.