Zimbabwe: For Villagers in Zimbabwe, Lithium Boom Might Prove a Bust

Mutoko, Zimbabwe — As global demand skyrockets for the metal used in batteries, outside interests have stepped in to mine, leaving locals with a stark choice between living in a mining zone and relocating.

“I have been dreaming about these precious stones for the past 11 years. They were revealed to me by my ancestors through dreams,” says Sagacious Dangaranga, a farmer who began mining lithium last winter on his communal land in Nyagore, a village in Mutoko, east of the capital, Harare.