HARARE – The Government of Zimbabwe has set a mineral revenue target of US$7 billion for the current fiscal year, anchored on the sustained recovery of key export commodities including gold, lithium, and platinum group metals (PGMs).
Speaking to media on the sidelines of a Ministry of Mines staff engagement, Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Eng. Polite Kambamura, indicated that the state is actively capitalizing on the current global commodity boom.
“We are looking forward to around US$6.5 billion to US$7 billion in export receipts,” Kambamura stated, noting that the sector has already contributed US$2 billion in export receipts during the first quarter of 2026.
The 2026 commodities market is defined by unprecedented but highly volatile gold valuations, a fiercely rebounding lithium sector, and a structural supply deficit driving PGMs upward. Ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty and the accelerated global energy transition remain the primary catalysts across all three asset classes.
Gold initiated the year by shattering historical resistance, hitting an all-time high above US$5,500 per ounce. This initial price spike triggered the upper band of the state’s tiered royalty structure, applying a 10% royalty rate on large-scale producers—a tax threshold strictly activated only when global gold prices exceed the US$5,000 per ounce mark. Small-scale miners remain exempt from this specific tiered application. Although the metal has since undergone a technical correction to hover around US$4,500 per ounce, the brief peak and subsequent royalty trigger significantly bolstered first-quarter fiscal revenues.
Reaffirming the state’s 50-tonne annual gold delivery target, Kambamura expressed confidence in surpassing the benchmark through tightened compliance frameworks.
“I think you have noticed some new policies that we came up with to make sure that every gram, every ounce of gold is delivered to the government. So as a minister, I’ll be looking to those deliverers with an eagle eye to see that every miner who is digging for gold has some meaningful returns to the government,” he said.
Beyond gold, Platinum Group Metals are enjoying a robust upward trajectory in 2026, primarily fuelled by severe, constrained mine outputs from primary producing regions, specifically South Africa and Russia.
Simultaneously, the lithium market has staged a massive recovery. Following a prolonged price slump throughout 2024 and 2025 driven by market oversupply, early 2026 saw battery-grade lithium surge past US$16,000 per tonne, aggressively testing resistance at US$20,000 per tonne levels.
Addressing the critical issue of domestic beneficiation, Kambamura confirmed that Arcadia Lithium Zimbabwe, a subsidiary of Huayou Cobalt, is expanding its infrastructure to process lithium carbonate, a significantly higher-value upstream product.
“I had a meeting with them last week, and they told me that the new plant that they have put up at Arcadia, in Goromonzi, will also be producing lithium carbonate, which is more valuable,” he stated.
This strategic shift towards domestic processing is gaining industry-wide traction. Bikita Minerals is similarly scheduled to commission a state-of-the-art lithium sulphate plant next month, aligning with the government’s mandate to capture maximum export value.
“Government has taken bold steps to ensure that Zimbabwe’s minerals are increasingly beneficiated and value-added within our borders, so that our people—and not others—enjoy the full value of what God has placed beneath our soil,” Kambamura said.
