HARARE, - Zimbabwe recorded lithium export sales worth $2.16 billion during the nine months to September 30, nearly four times the total sales for last year, the government's minerals marketing agency said on Wednesday.
* The increase was mainly due to a 283% increase in the price of spodumene concentrate, a lithium-bearing mineral which is a key source of the battery metal, the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe's General Manager Nomusa Moyo said during a briefing.
* Spodumene concentrate sales accounted for $1.8 billion of total lithium export income, followed by income from petalite, another lithium-bearing mineral, at $155 million.
* Zimbabwe also registered $190 million in sales of lithium sulphate, a processed chemical used as an intermediate material in the production of battery-grade lithium compounds.
* China's Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt began exporting lithium sulphate from its Zimbabwe mine in April, after building Africa's first lithium salt plant for $400 million.