The 2025 International Commodity Summit (ICS2025) is backing Zimbabwe's mining industry by encouraging worldwide investors to fund Kuvimba Mining House, a Zimbabwean company aiming to secure 950 million dollars for the expansion of its mining operations. Led by CEO Trevor Barnard, Kuvimba is working to reinvigorate its projects, with a focus on lithium, platinum, and gold extraction, to boost the nation's mining potential and economic development.

Kuvimba Mining House, which is now 70% owned by the state sovereign wealth fund Mutapa Investment Fund, is actively engaging with development banks, mining companies, and traders to secure the necessary funding for its ambitious projects.

Barnard states that even though the country had challenges with developmental banks – all access to funding and major traders have opened and that Zimbabwe’s economy should seize this opportunity. Barnard also highlighted the benefits of the company's new ownership structure has alleviated previous funding challenges.

Kuvimba Mining House is set to allocate more than half of the sought 950 million dollars  towards its Darwendale project’s underground platinum mine, with plans for a smaller open pit mine estimated to cost fifty million dollars this year.

Kuvimba Mining House notes that they are in discussions with development banks to finance both the underground project and processing facilities, targeting a start date within three years.

Zimbabwe’s new lithium project in collaboration with Chinese mining companies needs seventy-five million dollars for completion by March this year.

Zimbabwe boasts the world’s second-largest platinum reserves, second to South Africa, and is Africa’s leading lithium producer.

In the last decade Zimbabwe’s economic has had its fair share of economic woes that has labelled the country as a bad investment through the international investor perspective.

Since the early 1990s to the present, the country’s inflation rates surged, unemployment rose dramatically, the country’s politics was in chaos, and foreign investment dwindled.

Zimbabwe’s economic collapse was rooted in a web of interconnected issues, including political factors, policy mismanagement, international isolation, and structural economic weaknesses. Both domestic and international influences contributed to Zimbabwe's economic downturn.

The Republic of South Africa has rendered support to Zimbabwe by using the BNC mechanism by  providing  strategic impetus to drive the bilateral relations to a significantly higher level.
The two neighbouring African countries has collaborated extensively to explore a variety of issues that affect their states, having further deepened their cooperation. This includes deepening the social ties between the two countries, and the region, through greater people-to-people cooperation.
Over the years, the two states worked on critical issues, such as economic cooperation, infrastructure development, energy production, mining, defence, health, transport, migration issues, and information and communication technology.

One significant factor contributing to the underperformance of Zimbabwe's mining sector is its inability to secure foreign direct investment (FDI) essential for both Greenfields and Brownfields operations, which are crucial for enhancing the industry's competitiveness.

It is important to strike a balance between attracting FDI and promoting national development interests, which is why developing nations are linking their growth strategies with mining initiatives.

FDI has  positive spillover effects, including the transfer of skills and technology, as well as fostering competition in host countries. Zimbabwe's struggle to attract FDI is due to drastic policy shifts, the government's disregard for property rights, and the persistent political instability that has plagued the country for years.

However, the abundant and diverse mineral resources in Zimbabwe offer significant opportunities for economic recovery through expanded mining activities, including artisanal, small-scale, and large-scale operations, which could contribute to human development.

To capitalize on this potential, Zimbabwe needs to implement a fundamental shift in its policies, creating an investment climate that attracts higher levels of foreign direct investment (FDI). Simultaneously, the country should strive to maximize benefits through fiscal measures and other economic connections.

The World Bank has declared Zimbabwe's economic outlook to be positive, with growth expected to increase to 6 percent in 2025, up from 2 percent last year on the back of an anticipated recovery in agriculture and robust growth in industry.

"Zimbabwe's economic outlook is positive, with recovery from the 2019/2020 COVID-19 recession and the 2024 El Nino-related drought," the World Bank stated in its latest Zimbabwe Economic Update report.

Kuvimba’s strategic initiatives form part of this significant boost that will attract significant interest from investors, including those from Cluff Africa and various European commodity traders, as the company seeks to expand its operations and meet the rising global demand for critical minerals.

 As part of the ICS2025, the summit will host an engaging dialogue that seeks to convene leading experts, industry executives, and policymakers to discuss the current state and future trajectory of the global metals market in relation to mining.

The Global Metals Panel will address crucial topics impacting the mining industry, including the importance of critical metals for the energy transition and strategies for reducing environmental impacts in metal extraction. The impact of trade policies, resource nationalism, and international conflicts that promote illegal conflict mineral supply chains.

In addition, investment opportunities and challenges for investors in traditional and emerging metal markets, how automation and artificial intelligence can affect investor sentiment, and a general outlook toward the future of metal extraction, refinement, production, fabrication, and demand in general.

This summit presents a unique opportunity for investors to engage with industry leaders and policymakers, paving the way for sustainable development in Zimbabwe, and Africa's mineral sector.