Economy, Mining

Zimbabwe has a long tradition of mining, going back before European colonization. The country contains a wide range of minerals, including antimony, asbestos, chromium, coal, cobalt, copper, gold, graphite, iron ore, magnesite, nickel, silver, and tin. Coal is an important power source. Gold, chrome, and asbestos are the major mineral exports; gold is consistently Zimbabwe’s second-most important export product after tobacco.