Through the Eyes of a Laid-Off Worker at Trojan Nickel Mine, Zimbabwe

A greater number of losers than winners in the new scramble for critical energy transition minerals

By Davie Malungisa, Senior Advisor, Southern Africa Resource Watch

Sitting under a shade, sipping his favourite beverage, Jonasi looks at the sky repeatedly. Almost murmuring, he says, “At last, the rains are upon us. The heat has been too much!”
I sit down next to him, nodding.

I am at Trojan Nickel Mine, Zimbabwe’s only nickel producer, located approximately 87 kilometres north of Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital.
The sounds of mining tools are no longer heard, and the smoke from smelters’ chimneys has vanished. In 2023, Trojan Nickel mine paused its operations, citing equipment failure and the low international prices for nickel.

Jonasi slightly bends his head towards me, speaking slowly, he says,

“Approximately 80% of the staff were retrenched during the previous month. Trojan is currently undergoing care and maintenance. It is in administration. I was also affected by the termination of employment.”

Jonasi is among the 800 employees we retrenched in November 2024.
Prior to that, on 2 May 2024, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Justice, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs placed the mine into administration according to the Reconstruction of State-Indebted Insolvent Companies Act [Chapter 24:27] (No. 27 of 2004).

“At first, we experienced a breakdown in the equipment,” Jonasi noted. “Then, just as the mine was ready to resume operations, we learned about an unexpected development: the international nickel prices had fallen. Consequently, reopening the mine was not financially viable.”

BNC owns a smelter and refinery complex (see picture to the right), which is currently not operational.
According to its website, BNC’s smelter and refinery were constructed in 1968, while the first production of nickel cathode was achieved in the same year. This business unit has operated under BSR Limited (formerly Bindura Smelter and Refinery Limited), a subsidiary of BNC.

When operational, BNC produced nickel sulphide, which is mainly used to produce stainless steel.
Nickel demand is expected to rise exponentially in the medium to long term. The metal is one of the critical minerals for the energy transition. Nickel is in high demand as a feedstock for innovative green technologies, such as Electric Vehicles (EVs) and battery storage systems. It provides high storage capacity, which reduces the size of lithium-ion batteries.

The mine also produced nickel by-products (copper and cobalt), two minerals at the centre of EV battery production.
However, without value addition, the viability of mining operations will remain a challenge.

“If you look over there, the smelter is utterly silent. It has been inactive for a long time, well before the shutdown of the underground mining operations. Trojan has been exporting concentrates without any processing.”

It is a big problem that a lot of value is being exported. There is a danger that the export of raw materials does not account for the cobalt and copper that used to be recovered from the nickel ore.

The social effects are significant and far-reaching

The Trojan Mine seems to be heading towards a ghost settlement. Immediate action must be taken to avert such a path.
Driving around the mine, I can see the dilapidated railway infrastructure. Like the refinery, the trains are silent. The rail guards are partly buried under the tall grass and soil.

“How about the social conditions?” I ask. “Please tell me how households are coping with this loss of income.”

“It’s a critical situation,” Jonasi replies. “Children’s education has been affected, as the company no longer supports education. We’re left to fend for ourselves, and the anguish is evident. We’re facing significant hardships.”

“But we’re not hopeless. We have been told there are new investors on the horizon.”

Certainly not. These investors have been actively engaged since the government initiated a version of a Sovereign Wealth Fund, known as the Munhumutapa Fund.
The fund controls 70% of BNC stock, which has been listed on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange since 17 December 2021.

The real question is whether Zimbabwe will advance in its mining sector towards beneficiation. Suspending smelting and refining activities signifies a step or several steps back in value addition.

Can Zimbabwe manufacture green technologies, or join hands with other manufacturing hubs in Southern Africa?

Jonasi represents many workers who are being overlooked despite the increasing demand for critical minerals.
This is why calls for a Just Energy Transition are getting louder. Commodity dependency points repeat the old story of vulnerability to international price fluctuations.

Jonasi finds himself trapped by various overlapping elements that define the inequitable global distribution of labour, production, and trade relationships.

“What assistance can you provide, my brother?”

“Not much,” I responded, knowing I couldn’t guarantee his salvation. “The starting point…” I suggested, “is to work with the workers and the community. We need to brainstorm more and develop a plan of action using grievance redress tools.”

SARW has developed a comprehensive grievance redress mechanism that closely resembles the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and several other key benchmarks.

As I walk away, I am certain that I must come back and work with the community and other stakeholders involved with Trojan Nickel Mine.