China’s Zijin Mining Group aims to start producing lithium in the Democratic Republic of Congo early next year from one of the world’s largest deposits of the battery metal.

Zijin is accelerating activity at a site in southeast Congo that’s still claimed by AVZ Minerals. The Australian firm has initiated arbitration proceedings against both the government and Zijin as part of its efforts to recover an exploration license.

The Manono project is expected to start production during the first quarter of 2026, a Zijin spokesperson said by email. That would make it the first operating lithium mine in Congo, the world’s second-largest copper producer and biggest source of cobalt.

Chinese companies including Zijin are investing heavily in Africa’s lithium resources from Mali to Zimbabwe, even after prices slumped almost 90% from a peak in 2022. They are seeking to lock down feedstock for refineries at home in anticipation of soaring future consumption of the metal.

While the current supply glut will likely continue in the short term, there is still “room for demand from the global new energy vehicle and energy storage industries” over a longer horizon, Zijin said in September. The company’s other lithium projects are in China and Argentina.

Zijin – which has copper, gold, lithium and zinc mines across five continents – is developing Manono in a joint venture with the Congolese state and was granted a full mining license four months ago. The asset is “sizable,” with an average grade of 1.51% lithium oxide, the spokesperson said.

LEGAL DISPUTE

Explorer AVZ has said the wider area is “the world’s largest hard rock lithium deposit".

Perth-based AVZ has accused Congo of acting illegally by taking over its whole permit and then awarding the northern portion to a unit of Zijin in September 2023. AVZ said arbitration tribunals have ordered Zijin’s state-owned partner to halt any move to develop the contested permit area until they hear the cases. The government is “in blatant violation of several injunctions,” an AVZ spokesperson said by email.

AVZ said last month that the Australian Federal Police searched its premises concerning allegations of bribery related to the Manono lithium project. The company has denied any wrongdoing.

If Zijin builds a mine on a scale envisaged by AVZ in a 2020 study, only a few giant projects in No. 1 producer Australia, such as Albemarle’s Greenbushes, and the recently opened Goulamina in Mali, would be bigger, said Thomas Matthews, battery materials analyst at CRU Group.

Previous studies indicate Manono should be profitable even at current weak prices, he said.

Zijin is “in full compliance” with all legal and regulatory requirements in Congo, the spokesperson said. “We are very pleased to have received the Manono exploitation permit and our priority now is to proceed with developing it,” the spokesperson said.

The Chinese company declined to say what output level it’s targeting, but intends to commission the processing plant in phases. While the joint venture will begin by manufacturing and exporting lithium concentrate and sulfate, Zijin will consider doing additional refining in Manono when there’s a reliable power supply, the spokesperson said. A subsidiary has already rehabilitated a nearby hydroelectric facility.

Zijin also has interests in two copper mines in Congo, including a 39.6% stake in the giant Kamoa-Kakula complex, which is a partnership with Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.

Congo’s mines ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment.