The Zimbabwe and Ghana intend to produce electric batteries. For this, by working on projects, they banned the export of raw lithium.

Zimbabwe is a longstanding player in the lithium market, while Ghana is a newcomer to the landscape. The fifth largest producer of this mineral in the world, Zimbabwe has the largest reserves on the African continent. Like non-African developing countries, Zimbabwe took the decision, in 2023, to ban exports of crude lithium. The government thus estimates the loss suffered by the country at 1.7 billion euros due to the absence of a lithium processing industry. Ghana, for its part, preferred to rely on Western investors to exploit its first lithium mine. He too has banned the export of raw lithium and aims to become a battery production center. Zimbabwe's current challenge is whether it will be able to attract foreign investment other than Chinese to process and refine its lithium