Zimbabwe Halts Antimony and Tungsten Exports as Africa Tightens Grip on Raw Ore

Zimbabwe has stopped the export of antimony and tungsten in every form, including ores and concentrates. The instruction came from the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development and was signed by the Secretary for Mines, Thomas Utete Wushe. It was addressed to the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ), the state body that handles marketing and export clearance for every mineral other than gold and silver. The directive is dated 21 July 2026, took effect immediately and remains in force until the ministry issues a separate notice lifting it.

The measure only reached international buyers in the first week of September 2026, when Zimbabwean mining media published the letter and the Ministry of Mines confirmed it. That gap of roughly seven weeks between signature and public disclosure matters for procurement teams, because shipments planned over the summer were already blocked at the clearance stage while the market still assumed business as usual.

Enforcement runs entirely through MMCZ. Because the corporation is the only channel for export paperwork on these minerals, refusing to process documents is enough to halt trade without any new legislation. The directive as published sets no end date, names no conditions for resuming exports and describes no transitional arrangements for stockpiles, existing contracts or cargoes already booked. Companies producing or marketing the two metals are waiting for supporting rules from the ministry and from MMCZ.

The move is not an isolated decision. Zimbabwe suspended exports of all raw minerals and lithium concentrates on 26 February 2026, citing malpractice and leakage in the export chain. On 22 May 2026, Mines Minister Polite Kambamura signed a Mineral Classification and Declaration that named 14 minerals as critical, antimony and tungsten among them, banned the export of any of them in raw or unbeneficiated form without an approved transitional beneficiation plan, and introduced mandatory state shareholding through special purpose vehicles. The July directive applies that framework to two specific metals.

Government has pointed to lithium as proof that the approach works. MMCZ data for the first quarter of 2026 showed 240,826 tonnes shipped for US$178.6 million, a 2 percent rise in volume against a 106 percent rise in value compared with the same quarter of 2025, even though March exports were close to zero after the February ban. Mining contributes around 14 percent of Zimbabwe's gross domestic product and most of its foreign currency earnings, and officials argue that shipping unprocessed rock leaves the bulk of that value with overseas refiners.

The volumes actually at stake in this latest order are modest. Antimony is mined on a small scale around Kwekwe, Kadoma, Shurugwi, Bubi and Mberengwa, much of it by small operators feeding traders rather than by large industrial mines. Tungsten output is thinner still. The country's flagship asset, the RHA mine in Hwange district north-west of Bulawayo, has been under care and maintenance for years. In July 2026 Premier African Minerals confirmed that the government had approved the transfer of the state-held stake in RHA to the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation, a step intended to clear the way for a restart, but commercial production has not resumed.

The timing lands in an already strained tungsten market. China accounts for more than three quarters of world supply and has tightened its grip steadily since February 2025, adding tungsten products to its dual-use export controls, cutting mining quotas for three consecutive years and limiting exports for 2026 and 2027 to a short list of 15 approved companies. Prices for APT, the tungsten intermediate used to make tungsten metal, started 2026 near US$900 per metric tonne unit delivered into Rotterdam and passed US$3,100 by April. European quotations have eased to roughly US$2,900 to US$3,100 per metric tonne unit in early September 2026, with very few deals closing as tool makers hold back purchases. Zimbabwe removes very little tonnage from that market, but any further supply loss reinforces the perception of scarcity.

Antimony sits in a calmer phase. Chinese licensing controls introduced in September 2024, followed by the December 2024 ban on shipments to the United States, pushed prices to a record close to US$59,750 per tonne in July 2025. Beijing suspended part of that ban in November 2025, and additional output from Southeast Asia has kept 2026 supply adequate, with European prices drifting lower through the first half of the year. The Zimbabwean decision on its own is not enough to reverse that trend.

Similar decisions are stacking up across the continent. The Democratic Republic of the Congo prohibited exports of copper and cobalt concentrates under an order signed on 29 June 2026, with one-year waivers possible in strategic cases. Guinea banned raw gold exports on 22 June 2026 and directed output to a new refinery in Conakry. Tanzania and Uganda already prohibit exports of unprocessed gold and copper, and Ghana intends to end raw gold exports by 2030.

The main risk for Zimbabwe is a gap between the policy and the plants. No antimony or tungsten smelting capacity of any scale exists in the country today, and building it takes years. If refining does not appear, ore accumulates at the mine, small producers cut back, and material leaks across borders through informal channels. Chinese buyers, who take the large majority of Zimbabwe's mineral exports, have been advised by their embassy in Harare since March 2026 to strengthen compliance in the face of shifting rules.

Buyers holding Zimbabwean antimony or tungsten in their supply base should treat those volumes as unavailable until MMCZ publishes clearance rules, and should confirm the status of any cargo booked since July. The implementing regulations promised after the May declaration, covering beneficiation level schedules, transitional plan templates, state shareholding percentages and penalties, are the documents that will determine whether exemptions become available and on what terms.