About the project
The Sabi Star Lithium Mine covers approximately 2,600 hectares in Buhera District, one of Zimbabwe’s driest districts. The mine contains lithium-bearing spodumene as well as tantalite. Lithium is an important input in rechargeable batteries used in electric vehicles and energy-storage systems, while tantalum is used in electronic components and other industrial applications.
Exploration at Sabi Star reportedly began in 2018. Max Mind Investments subsequently constructed a flotation plant capable of processing approximately 3,000 tonnes of ore per day. The plant was commissioned in August 2023, marking the beginning of full production. At full capacity, the operation was expected to process around one million tonnes of ore and produce approximately 300,000 tonnes of lithium concentrate annually.
Max Mind Investments is linked to Shenzhen Chengxin Lithium Group, a Chinese company involved in producing and processing lithium materials. Public reporting has also connected the investment to Shenzhen Chengtun Group. The precise relationships between the Zimbabwean operating company, its parent company and associated investors should continue to be monitored because ownership structures and shareholdings may change.
The Zimbabwean government has promoted Sabi Star as part of its strategy to capture more value from the country’s lithium reserves. In December 2022, Zimbabwe restricted exports of unprocessed lithium ore, encouraging companies to construct local processing facilities. The government and the company have presented Sabi Star as an important source of investment, export earnings, employment and rural development.
The project nevertheless illustrates a contradiction within the transition to supposedly low-carbon technologies. Although Sabi Star’s lithium is intended for battery supply chains, the mine has developed a 15-megawatt thermal power plant to support its operations. Independent reporting and civil-society research describe this as a coal-fired plant, raising concerns about greenhouse-gas emissions and additional local air pollution.
Sabi Star has publicised employment, road improvements, boreholes, community gardens, school support and the construction of a clinic among its contributions to Buhera. In 2025, mine representatives stated that the company had drilled 26 community boreholes, including solar-powered facilities supporting schools and nutrition gardens. The company has also said that it gives local farmers opportunities to supply produce to its catering operation. These initiatives may benefit some households, but they do not resolve the reported harms experienced by displaced families and communities along the mine’s transport routes.
Approximately 40 or 41 families are reported to have been relocated to make way for the project. Community members and civil-society organisations maintain that affected families were not adequately consulted before relocation. Some reportedly received cash payments, while others were provided with replacement houses. Residents have described being pressured to sign agreements without sufficient time or independent advice and being warned that their homes could be demolished if they refused.
Families relocated to the Bhidhiri and Murambinda areas report that their new settlements lack secure land tenure and adequate public services. Some replacement houses allegedly developed cracks shortly after construction. Families also lost agricultural fields, livestock infrastructure, fruit trees, granaries, boreholes and access to wetlands and other natural resources. The absence of title deeds at some resettlement sites contributes to insecurity and fears that families could be displaced again.
The loss of land is particularly serious because surrounding communities depend predominantly on subsistence farming and livestock keeping. Agricultural land, wetlands, water sources and natural vegetation provide food, income and protection against recurring drought. Residents report that mining has reduced grazing areas, damaged gardens and made it harder to sustain livestock. These impacts have placed additional pressure on women, who often carry primary responsibility for obtaining household water and producing food.
Water access and quality are among the communities’ principal concerns. Residents have associated deep drilling and the mine’s water consumption with declining groundwater availability and the failure of local wells. Some women and girls reportedly travel several kilometres to collect water and wait for hours at the remaining functional pumps. Communities have also raised concerns about unusual smells and possible contamination in boreholes and streams near the mine. These reports require transparent and independent scientific investigation; suspected chemical contamination should not be treated as established fact until appropriate testing identifies its source and composition.
Dust pollution is another significant concern. Large numbers of trucks transport lithium concentrate along long stretches of unpaved road between the mine and surrounding settlements. Residents report that the dust settles on homes, crops, grazing vegetation and water sources. Schools located near the transport route have experienced particularly serious exposure. Teachers, health workers and residents have reported coughing, chest pain, eye irritation and other respiratory complaints among children and adults.
BRNT has called for health assessments and immediate dust-control measures, including regular watering of the road, followed by its complete rehabilitation and surfacing. The company has stated that it regularly sprays the road with water and maintains an open-door policy for community concerns. Residents and BRNT contend that existing measures have been inconsistent or insufficient to control the scale of the pollution.
The mine has also affected cultural heritage. Community and civil-society reports state that ancestral graves were exhumed and relocated during construction. Max Mind Investments has said that 22 graves were lawfully relocated in 2022 and 2023 with the involvement of affected families, traditional leaders and district authorities, and that compensation and funeral expenses were provided. Some community members dispute that the consultation was adequate or culturally respectful. They describe the process as traumatic and argue that financial payments did not address the spiritual, cultural and psychological consequences of disturbing their ancestors.
Residents living close to exploration and mining areas remain concerned about further displacement. Reports of new prospecting pegs and field activities without prior explanation have created uncertainty about which households or community resources may be affected next. This insecurity reportedly prevents families from investing in their homes, fields and other long-term improvements.
Communities have also questioned whether employment benefits have been shared fairly. Although the project created jobs during construction and operation, residents allege that many local people receive only casual or short-term work, while more secure and skilled positions go to people recruited elsewhere. Women and young people are reportedly among those most frequently excluded. Community leaders who raise these and other concerns have also reported harassment and intimidation.
About the community-led struggle
The Buhera Residents Network Trust is the principal community-based organisation supporting residents affected by Sabi Star. BRNT works with farming households, women, young people, traditional leaders and other residents to identify community priorities and bring their concerns to companies and public authorities.
Documentation is central to this work. Community members use photographs, mobile phones and WhatsApp to record dust, damaged roads, water problems, changes in land use and other alleged impacts. BRNT combines this community evidence with meetings, interviews and research to demonstrate patterns of harm that might otherwise be treated as isolated complaints. It has also worked with journalists and civil-society organisations to bring residents’ experiences into radio programmes, newspapers and digital media.
BRNT undertakes rights-awareness and advocacy training so that residents can understand environmental, mining and constitutional protections and participate more effectively in decisions affecting their land. This is particularly important for women, young people and displaced families, whose interests are often overlooked during negotiations between companies, government officials and selected local representatives.
Communities have used meetings, demonstrations and engagement with government departments to demand action. They have also revived cultural practices and collective community activities as a way of maintaining solidarity and connections to land and ancestry following relocation. These cultural actions are part of the struggle to protect community identity, rather than simply demands for financial compensation.
In 2025, BRNT submitted a petition to Zimbabwe’s Parliament on behalf of affected residents. The petition called for an investigation into pollution, water depletion and contamination, displacement, worker safety and the destruction of livelihoods associated with the mine. It also asked Parliament to exercise its oversight role and ensure that the company complies with Zimbabwean environmental, mining and constitutional requirements.
BRNT subsequently presented community evidence before Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Environment, Climate and Wildlife in July 2026. Residents, educators and community health workers participated in public hearings and described dust exposure, water concerns and the consequences for children, livestock and farming. The committee indicated that it would prepare recommendations for Parliament. Securing parliamentary attention represents an important achievement for communities whose earlier attempts to obtain meaningful dialogue had produced limited results.
Following this engagement, civil-society organisations reported alleged intimidation directed at BRNT and community activists. The organisations understood these actions as reprisals for providing evidence to Parliament. This experience demonstrates the restricted civic space in which residents are organising and the personal risks faced by those who publicly question politically supported mining investments. Publication of details that might place individual defenders or their families at additional risk should therefore be approached carefully.
BRNT has also attempted to engage Max Mind Investments directly. Where dialogue with the Zimbabwean operating company has been unsuccessful, it has sought support to understand the company’s ownership and financing arrangements and to communicate with Shenzhen Chengxin Lithium Group in China. This international advocacy is intended to ensure that responsibility does not stop with the local subsidiary and that parent companies and investors address the human-rights and environmental performance of their overseas operations.
The communities’ demands extend beyond mitigating dust. They are calling for:
- Independent testing of community water sources and public disclosure of the results.
- Immediate provision of safe and reliable drinking water and repair of damaged or non-functional boreholes.
- Health screening and accessible treatment for residents and schoolchildren exposed to dust and other possible pollutants.
- Regular dust suppression and the surfacing and rehabilitation of roads used by mine vehicles.
- Fair compensation for lost land, homes, crops, livestock infrastructure, water facilities and cultural heritage.
- Secure tenure at resettlement sites and protection against further displacement without consultation and agreement.
- Respectful treatment of graves, sacred places and traditional practices.
- Vocational training and fair access to stable employment, particularly for displaced families, women and young people.
- Transparent information about exploration, expansion plans and environmental monitoring.
- Meaningful community participation before decisions are taken, rather than consultation after projects have already been approved.
- A transparent community-benefit arrangement through which residents can determine priorities for local development.
The future sought by affected communities is not limited to stopping a particular mine. Residents want agricultural livelihoods restored and protected, alongside safe water, functioning roads, healthcare, education and opportunities for younger generations. They are calling for a development model in which communities retain decision-making power over their land and receive an equitable share of the value created from local mineral resources.
Their experience challenges the assumption that minerals used in renewable-energy technologies are automatically part of a just transition. For communities in Buhera, the transition cannot be considered just if lithium extraction reproduces displacement, pollution, cultural loss and exclusion. Any continued operation of Sabi Star must therefore be based on accountability, secure rights, environmental protection and the informed participation of the people carrying its social and ecological costs.
Further resources
- Grounded Transitions — full report
- Buhera, Zimbabwe: Safeguarding Heritage Amid the Lithium Rush
- Centering Community Voices in Just Energy Development
- The Future We Want: Voices from African Mining-Affected Communities
- The Controversy of Green Energy: Unmasking Southern Africa’s Critical Mineral Sacrifice Zones — AIDC
- Lithium Rush in Buhera Severely Affects Local Community — Centre for Natural Resource Governance
- Green Transition, Local Destruction — Centre for Natural Resource Governance
- Centering Justice in Just Energy Transition: Perspectives — New America
- Zimbabwe Looks to China to Secure a Place in the EV Battery Supply Chain — African Arguments
- Dust from Lithium Mine Sparks Health and Education Crisis in Buhera — EnviroPress Zimbabwe
- Buhera Villagers Petition Parliament over Sabi Star Mine Pollution — EnviroPress Zimbabwe
- Sabi Star Mine Accused of “Toxic Harm” as Buhera Villagers Petition Parliament — Post on Sunday
- CNRG Raises Alarm over Alleged Media Capture and Grave Exhumations — The Zimbabwean