Zimbabwe's natural resources

Zimbabwe has the second largest reserve of gold on the African continent and the second largest reserve of platinum in the world. The country also boasts the largest elephant herd in the world as well as a sizable impala herd; safari tours have historically been an important means of support for the local population.

The Country

Zimbabwe is in the southeastern corner of Africa, bordered to the north by Zambia, to the east by Mozambique, to the west by Botswana, and to the south by South Africa. In 2023, the country’s gross domestic product (purchasing power parity) was estimated at $58.583 billion. Of this amount, agriculture accounted for 27 percent, industry accounted for 47 percent, and the services sector accounted for 18.5 percent. Mining industry revenues in Zimbabwe have exceeded $2 billion per year since 2016, increasing to $9.7 billion in 2023. The mining sector of the economy employed at least forty thousand people and accounted for 80 percent of the total export revenues of the country.

Of the total land area, around half is forest, and this consists of mopane (a tree in the legume family) and dry miombo woodland. Grasslands, both low- and high-altitude types, constitute another important ecosystem. The Zambezi River, which forms the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia, is an important waterway of the country.

Gold

Africa has about 30 percent of the Earth’s mineral reserves, including 40 percent of the world’s gold. Gold is Zimbabwe's most valuable mineral export. Gold production in 2021 rose to 680.3 metric tons. Gold exports amounted rose from US$913 million in 2016 to $4.48 billion in 2022. Zimbabwe possessed the second largest gold reserves in the world in 2023, and its output was expected to continue rising.

The Freda Rebecca Mine, located close to Bindura, north of the capital city of Harare, is said to be the richest in the country. Ninety thousand metric tons of ore are processed at this mine each month. Freda Rebecca is owned by Mwana Africa, a large mining firm. Other important gold-mining companies include Falcon Gold, one of the oldest in Zimbabwe; Anglo American; Rio Tinto Zimbabwe; Consolidated Trillion Resources; Independence Gold; Delta Gold; and Reedbuck Gold. Central Rand Gold is a holding company for a number of smaller gold-mining and exploration firms.

In addition to traditional, large-scale gold-mining operations, nearly everyone in Zimbabwe pans for gold and seeks the mineral in tailings left from closed mines.

Diamonds

In Zimbabwe, diamonds, among the world’s most precious minerals, were first discovered in 1997 at Murowa, about 40 kilometers from the town of Zvishavane in the south-central portion of the country. Three kimberlite pipes containing diamond ore were located at the site. The Rio Tinto Group, which is the third largest producer of rough diamonds in the world and also owns gold mines in Zimbabwe, opened the Murowa diamond mine in 2004. In 2015, RioZim took over operation of the mine, which processed 1.2 million metric tons of ore in 2016.

The Marange diamond fields were the largest find of the early twenty-first century, producing an estimated 76 million carats from 2010 to 2022. However, a tremendous amount of illegal mining has occurred and contributes to a sizable black market problem, as well as government violence in trying to control it.

Platinum

Among the world’s scarcest minerals, found at a concentration of only 0.003 part per billion in the Earth’s crust, platinum is a highly prized metal that is thirty times rarer than gold. Its properties of malleability, ductility, and corrosion resistance make it a valuable component used in many industries. Platinum is sometimes used as a component of dental fillings and as a catalyst in the catalytic converters of automobiles. It also serves a number of important functions in the manufacture of laboratory equipment such as crucibles, tongs, funnels, and combustion instruments. Additionally, platinum is valued by many people for jewelry.

Leading world producers of platinum in 2023 were South Africa (with 80 percent of the planet’s share of production), Russia, and Zimbabwe. Although Zimbabwe produces approximately only 2 percent of the world’s platinum group metals, this product is an important export for the country. Found in nickel and copper ores, platinum is also found in native deposits, including those along Zimbabwe’s Great Dyke, a geological feature that runs north to south for about 550 kilometers through the central portion of the country. Platinum deposits were found in this area in 1925, but only in more recent times has mining become profitable.

Union Carbide began trial mining between 1966 and 1975 at the Mimosa Mine, now Zimbabwe’s oldest. Obtained by Zimasco Ltd. in 1992, Mimosa processes approximately 250,000 metric tons of platinum per year. In 2007, 1,850 kilograms of palladium and 190 kilograms of rhodium were produced. Zimbabwe produced 15 metric tons of palladium in 2023 and between 1.5 and 1.8 metric tons of rhodium in 2022.

Lithium

Although Zimbabwe is not one of the world’s leading producers of lithium, the country is still important as a lithium exporter because reserves of this alkali metal are rare. Chile is the leading producer of lithium, followed by Argentina. Australia, Brazil, Canada, Portugal, and Zimbabwe are the other nations for which lithium is a vital export.

Lithium has many uses in industry. It has been used in glass manufacturing for many years because it lowers the melting point of glass and allows for containers to be made with thinner walls as well as with lighter weight. Thermal and shock-resistant cookware is manufactured using lithium, and the metal acts as a catalyst in synthetic rubber and plastic production. Lithium carbonate in a pharmaceutical formulation provides a valuable drug for treating manic depression.

Probably the most important modern use of lithium has been as a component of rechargeable batteries. Lithium batteries are used as the power sources for 60 percent of all cell phones and 90 percent of all laptop computers.

In 2023, Zimbabwe produced 3,400 metric tons of lithium and its lithium reserves were estimated at 310,000 metric tons. Subsequent figures are difficult to obtain because of the continuing instability of Zimbabwe’s political and economic situation. The Glen Cove Mine, operated by Bikita Minerals Ltd., continues production and is considered to have a remarkably high-quality grade of lithium. This particular mine has provided the United States Atomic Energy Commission with about 30 percent of its lithium hydroxide stockpile.

Chromium

Zimbabwe boasts more than 50 percent of the world’s reserves of chromite, from which chromium is produced, and together South Africa and Zimbabwe possess 90 percent of Earth’s supply of this valuable ore. Chromium is vital in the production of stainless steel, nonferrous (non-iron) alloys, metal-plating processes, and the manufacture of refractories. Like lithium and platinum, chromium is important as a catalyst for manufacturing processes. For the United States, the only domestic source of chromium is through recycling, so the country imports much of its needed supply from South Africa and Zimbabwe.

The two major Zimbabwean chromite mines are Mutorashanga and the Torwood and Valley Mine. The large companies of Zimasco and Zimbabwe Alloys International own both the ore-mining and ferrochromium production components, allowing for the vertical integration of this industry.

Tobacco

Zimbabwe was one of the world’s major tobacco exporters, ranking seventh, in 2009, after Brazil, the United States, India, Malawi, Italy, and China. For many years, the country ranked as one of the top four tobacco producers in the world. Tobacco accounted for more than 50 percent of Zimbabwe’s total agricultural exports and represented 30 percent of the country’s total exports. Sales of the crop earned about seven times more than sales of corn, about twenty-two times more than cotton, and sixty times more than soybeans. Virtually all the tobacco crop (98 percent) is exported because there is little domestic production of cigarettes. In 2023, Zimbabwe earned $12 billion from tobacco exports, which went mostly to China.

Tobacco production provides employment for approximately 5 percent of the country’s labor force and also contributes to employment for those in the coal-mining, transportation, hospitality, and service sectors of the economy. Most tobacco farming is done by about two thousand large-scale, commercial growers who utilize modern farming techniques, including irrigation. These large growers account for 95 percent of total crop production and plant on about 87 percent of the available land. About sixteen thousand small-scale dryland farmers raise the remaining 5 percent of the country’s tobacco.

Three types of tobacco are grown in Zimbabwe. Flue-cured tobacco is raised in the parts of the country with better rainfall totals, and this encompasses areas north and east of the capital of Harare. Burley tobacco is grown in the northeastern and eastern highland regions, where there is both good rainfall and high humidity, which is necessary for the curing of this particular type of tobacco. Oriental tobacco is grown primarily by small-scale farmers in Masvingo Province.

Most tobacco farmers practice a five-year rotation schedule and grow other crops within the rotation cycle. Soybeans, wheat, corn, and livestock are all produced on tobacco land, and some farmers have turned to less traditional crops such as export roses, vegetables for sale to grocery stores, coffee, and paprika. The change to a greater diversity of crops became necessary because of the worldwide campaign to reduce the use of tobacco products such as cigarettes.

Cotton

Cotton is Zimbabwe’s second most important agricultural export. Approximately 200,000 small farms produce 98 percent of the cotton crop in the country. The amount of cotton produced has been steadily increasing. In 2022, Zimbabwe exported $147 million in raw cotton. Its exported cotton to Lesotho ($67 million), South Africa ($41.3 million), Mauritius ($12.5 million), Pakistan ($9.99 million), and Indonesia ($4.91 million).

Since 1994, the small-scale cotton growers in Zimbabwe have sold their seed cotton to the Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (Cottco). This company is the largest buying, processing, and marketing operation in the country, although Cargill and Romsdal also have a share of the cotton market. The ginners and merchants of these companies provide seed, fertilizer, and pesticides to the growers on credit. In turn, the growers sign contracts promising to sell all of their cotton back to the contractors.

Large-scale cotton farming takes place in the central, northern, and eastern sections of Mashonaland, while most small-scale production is in the Gokwe, Gwanda, and Kezi areas of Zimbabwe. Alber and long staple varieties of cotton are grown on all farms, and the quality of this cotton is ranked as “high” because there are not many contaminants and not much damage to the cotton.

Although the textile and garment industries have been well established since the 1930s in Zimbabwe, these industries and the accompanying cotton production that supports them have experienced a number of problems. Foreign currency problems and the extreme political instability of Zimbabwe have affected all of the country’s industries adversely, and the cotton business is no exception. Farmers who have been “resettled” by forced government intervention on former commercial farms are unskilled and have little experience in cotton production. There are also no gins for small farms other than the ones owned by the national companies such as Cottco and Cargill. Extreme drought in the region during recent years has also negatively affected cotton as well as many other crops.

Some farmers have begun to break a law that states that all cotton stalks must be destroyed at least fifty days before the next season’s planting. These farmers have been growing cotton by using the previous year’s stalks, a practice that has led to increased infestation of pink bollworm, one of the primary cotton pests. In spite of these problems, cotton continues to be an important export crop for Zimbabwe and may surpass tobacco as the number one crop of the country.

Other Resources

One of Zimbabwe’s most important resources is its wildlife and ecology. As of 2024, tourism was the third largest income-producing industry in Zimbabwe, employing about 200,000 people. The country has a variety of national parks, all of which host an astonishing variety of flora and fauna. Various licenses for tourists, park fees, and concessions within the parks provide income opportunities for local residents.

The national parks include Chimanimani, Chizarira, Gonarezhou, Hwange, Kazuma Pan, Mana Pools, Matusadona, Matelo, Nyanga, Victoria Falls, and Zambezi. Most of the parks host large numbers of the more common species of savanna wildlife, including roan, sable, impala, eland, cape buffalo, zebra, and elephant. Lions, leopards, and cheetahs are among the large predators that may also be seen in a few of the parks, including Gonarezhou and Kazuma Pan. Chizarira National Park also supports herds of the extremely rare black rhinoceroses. The tsessebe, a savanna antelope, and white rhinoceroses are found in Zambezi National Park. Hwange, the largest game reserve in Zimbabwe, located close to the Kalahari Desert, is home to hippopotamuses, crocodiles, brown hyenas, gemsboks, and African wild dogs as well as a large elephant herd.

Victoria Falls and Zambezi national parks are located along Zimbabwe’s border with Zambia and are visited as much for the spectacular natural wonder of waterfalls as for the diversity of wildlife. Victoria Falls actually consists of five separate falls, four within Zimbabwe and one (Eastern Cataract) in Zambia. In Zimbabwe, the Devil’s Cataract, Main Falls, Rainbow Falls, and Horseshoe Falls provide awe-inspiring views for the tourist.

Since its inception in 1989, the Communal Areas Management Program for Indigenous Resources, better known as CAMPFIRE, has provided moneymaking opportunities for local people by leasing land to tour companies. However, in order for ecotourism to continue to provide a means of support for Zimbabweans, the political situation in the country must stabilize.

Bibliography

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