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Sikhulekelani [email protected]

AFRICAN countries have been urged to take seriously the issue of value addition and beneficiation of minerals, to create more jobs for locals at the same time enhancing value for products.

In a presentation at the Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Minerals Workers Union (ZDAMWU) second elective congress held on Friday in Bulawayo, IndustryALL Global Union Sub- Saharian Africa regional secretary Ms Paule France N’dessomin said exporting raw minerals in the form of mineral ore promotes exporting of skills related to value addition and beneficiation of the minerals.

“If as a continent we are not careful and continue to sell our critical minerals without beneficiation, not only are we 0exporting the raw mineral, we are also exporting all the skills that are required to transform these minerals,” she said.

“So, it’s critical that at this stage as African trade unions and as African countries we play a role together with our governments on how we want these minerals to be exploited, to be sold and to be transformed.”

IndustriALL Global Union represents 50 million workers in 140 countries in the mining, energy and manufacturing sectors and is a force in global solidarity taking up the fight for better working conditions and trade union rights around the world.

It challenges the power of multinational companies and negotiates with them on a global level and it fights for another model of globalisation and a new economic and social model that puts people first, based on democracy and social justice.

Ms N’dessomin said Africa is rich with natural resources including critical minerals like lithium which she said can help in sustainable development of Africa as the world moves towards cleaner sources of energy.

She said IndustrialALL Global Union is mapping some jobs that will be made available in Africa through the energy transition initiatives.
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“We are working with different mining companies especially those who produce lithium because it has become a very popular and critical mineral especially with this energy transition to cleaner energy,” said Ms N’dessomin.

“Zimbabwe is one of the countries which is the biggest producer of minerals including lithium.”

Zimbabwe, with the largest reserves of lithium in Africa, took a bold step and banned all raw lithium exports after the Government argued smuggling of the sought-after mineral to South Africa and the United Arab Emirates was costing the country US$1,8 billion in earnings.

This has seen the Government approving the Lithium Ore Policy to consolidate the country’s beneficiation strategy and reap more earnings from minerals, putting a lid to the export and smuggling of lithium bearing ores.

Government is in the process of constructing a Mines to Energy Industrial Park in Mapinga which will be the hub for minerals beneficiation.

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