Chrome
Chrome claims for sale in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe holds the world’s second-largest chromite reserves and the best ore quality of any major producer — but a chrome claim is only worth what a smelter will pay at its gate, minus the haulage to get there.
- Share of world reserves
- ~12% 2nd globally
- Chromium-to-iron ratio
- 2.5 : 1 highest of any major producer
- Great Dyke length
- 550 km
- Raw ore exports
- Banned ferrochrome only
Zimbabwe holds roughly 12% of world chromite reserves, second only to South Africa’s 72% — and its ore is better. A chromium-to-iron ratio of about 2.5 to 1 is the highest of any major chromite-producing country, which is why the material is wanted despite everything else being harder here.
Where the ground is
Chromite follows the Great Dyke, the 550-kilometre intrusion running down the centre of the country, described as the world’s largest high-grade chromite resource base. The producing districts are Shurugwi, Mutorashanga, Mashava, Guinea Fowl and Lalapanzi.
Who buys the ore
Zimasco, a Sinosteel subsidiary, runs the largest integrated ferrochrome operation — mines across those districts and smelting at Kwekwe. ZimAlloys and Afrochine take material as well. For a small chrome producer, the buyer list is short and the price is set at the smelter gate.
Haulage decides chrome economics, not grade. Chrome ore is heavy and low-value per tonne compared with gold or lithium. A claim thirty kilometres from a smelter and a claim two hundred kilometres away can carry identical assays and completely different margins. Before valuing chrome ground, price the road to Kwekwe.
The export ban, and why it matters to a claim holder
Raw chrome ore exports are banned — reinstated in 2022 and extended in 2026 — so material must leave the country as ferrochrome. For a claim holder that means you cannot bypass the domestic smelters by finding a better price abroad. Your ore sells into a small domestic market at a price you do not set.
Smelting is also power-hungry: two to two and a half megawatt-hours per tonne of ferrochrome, on a grid that obliges smelters to run expensive diesel backup. When power is short, smelters take less ore, and that reaches claim holders as slower offtake rather than a lower quoted price.
What to check on chrome ground specifically
- Distance and road quality to the nearest smelter, costed per tonne. Do this first.
- Seam thickness and continuity, not just the Cr₂O₃ percentage of a grab sample.
- Strip ratio. Chrome margins are thin enough that overburden decides viability.
- An offtake conversation before you buy. Talk to the smelter you intend to sell to and establish that they will take your material, at what specification, and on what payment terms.
- Whether the claim is alluvial or in-situ. They are different operations with different equipment and different licences.
Tenure checks are common to all claims — see the guide to buying a mining claim.
Ground on offer
Live listingsEvery lot here has had its certificate of registration, inspection standing and map reference checked before listing. That is not a warranty — confirm title with the Provincial Mining Director before any money moves.
No chrome lots published yet
Great Dyke chrome ground is being taken on now, with priority on claims within economic haulage of a smelter. A lot appears here only once its paperwork has been checked.
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