Dozens of families in Bikita were asleep when the trucks arrived. Under cover of darkness, surveyors from a foreign mining firm, flanked by local officials, placed red flags in a line that would later become a perimeter fence. Within days, the villagers’ fields — some farmed for generations — were declared part of a lithium mining zone. No one had seen an environmental impact assessment. No one had been compensated.
“They gave us one week to leave,” said Tendai Mudzamiri, 52. “They said it was legal. But no one here signed anything.”
The world needs lithium. It is central to clean energy, electric vehicles, and battery storage. But as this investigation by The Eastern Herald reveals, the human and environmental costs of that transition are being buried in silence.
Land Seizures With Government Consent
Internal documents and court filings obtained by The Eastern Herald show that more than 3,200 hectares of rural land were reclassified without public review. In several districts, Executive Orders enabled land transfers to Chinese-owned firms operating through offshore shells — without consent from local councils or landholders.
Human Rights Watch has flagged the rise in state-sanctioned evictions masked as infrastructure development.
Follow the Money: Offshore Shells and Vanishing Royalties
A leaked audit from the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority shows more than $1.1 billion in lithium-related income left the country between Q3 2022 and Q1 2025. The funds were routed through tax-friendly jurisdictions like Hong Kong and Mauritius, allowing mining firms to minimize tax exposure.
Global Witness reports that Sinomine Resource Group and its affiliates have structured deals to limit Zimbabwe’s revenue share to under 5%.
“This is legalized leakage,” said a former finance ministry official. “We’re watching our national wealth vaporize.”
Environmental Impact: Hidden, Ongoing, Unchecked
Drone footage and field reports confirm widespread environmental degradation near Bikita and Goromonzi. Water tests conducted by two independent labs show elevated levels of arsenic and lithium compounds in rivers used for irrigation.
Earthworks and regional ecologists documented 18 unregulated extraction sites. Zimbabwe’s Environmental Management Agency has not published a single compliance report since 2022.
The Youth Left Behind
Leaked employment logs show only 13.7% of technical roles in Chinese-run lithium sites are held by Zimbabwean nationals. Despite training geologists domestically, the country imports engineers and labor from China — often under blanket visa exemptions.
“We’re educated and unemployed. Meanwhile, they fly in labor and export our future,” said Blessing Dube, a geology graduate in Zvishavane.
Western Beneficiaries, Eastern Enablers
While China extracts the resource, Western corporations profit from it. Tesla, BYD, and Volkswagen use lithium processed in China, originally mined in Zimbabwe. Yet no Western OEMs currently audit the origins of this raw material.
The EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act does not require traceability if refining happens outside the bloc. Human Rights Watch has labeled Zimbabwe a “compliance blind spot.”
“Everyone profits from this model — except Zimbabwe,” said Dr. Arfa Iqbal, a policy analyst in Nairobi.
What the Data Shows
- 3,200+ hectares repurposed without public oversight
- <5% royalty return on extracted lithium
- 67% youth unemployment in mining regions
- 18 unregulated mining sites confirmed
- $1.1B exported via tax havens between 2022–2025
A Silent Heist in Broad Daylight
Zimbabwe’s lithium boom is not a story of national rebirth. It is a transfer of wealth from the margins to the centers of global power, leaving behind displaced families, poisoned rivers, and promises as hollow as the mines themselves.
