Chinese lithium firms take over copycat Nigeria refinery project

Two Chinese manufacturers have taken over a Nigerian company that raised eyebrows in 2023 when it started building a lithium refinery in the country using a name that was very similar to one of the biggest and best-known Chinese producers.

A joint venture between Canmax Technologies Co. Ltd. and Jiangxi Jiuling Lithium Co. Ltd. last year took a controlling interest in Ganfeng Lithium Industry Ltd., a firm developing a lithium plant in the north of the West African nation, according to company documents obtained by Bloomberg.

Nigeria-registered Ganfeng was founded by Chinese businessmen in 2022, and created confusion a year later when it hosted a groundbreaking ceremony to kick off construction of the processing plant, which local authorities said will cost $250 million.

Shortly after the event, the company issued a statement to local media saying it had “no formal affiliation whatsoever” with Ganfeng Lithium Group Co. Ltd., one of the world’s biggest suppliers of lithium chemicals. A company representative offered no explanation as to why it was trading under a similar name.

Canmax and Jiuling’s takeover of the company — which corporate records show occurred in mid-2024 — brings financial clout and operating nous to the development of Nigeria’s nascent lithium industry, which has typically shipped raw ore to China for further treatment.

The investments signal that Chinese lithium companies are doubling down on efforts to lock down feedstock in anticipation of soaring future demand for the metal used in electric-vehicle batteries. They’ve been investing heavily in Africa’s lithium deposits from Mali to Zimbabwe, even after prices tumbled almost 90% from a peak in 2022.

Separately, Canmax also announced this month that it will invest over $200 million to develop two lithium mining deposits elsewhere in northern Nigeria, working with local company Three Crown Mines Ltd.

Shenzhen-listed Canmax is a large producer of lithium chemicals whose founder, Pei Zhenhua, made his fortune as an investor in Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd., the world’s top EV battery maker. Pei and CATL co-own a separate lithium mining and processing joint venture. Jiuling is a chemical producer based in Jiangxi – one of China’s lithium mining hubs – and a supplier to CATL.

Nigeria has sizable untapped deposits of metals including gold, tin and lithium, but most extraction is done informally by so-called artisanal miners on a small-scale or manual basis.

The Nigerian Ganfeng signed an agreement in September allowing the company to mine lithium for 10 years under permits held by a firm owned by the government of Nasarawa state – the location of the plant under construction.

The first phase of the facility is due for completion by the middle of this year and the second phase four months later, said Ibrahim Abdullahi, the chief executive officer of the state’s development and investment agency. “Nasarawa state is pleased with this investment and welcomes more of it,” he said.

Canmax and Jiuling, which together own 75% of the Nigerian Ganfeng, declined to comment. Nigeria’s federal mines ministry didn’t respond to questions about the acquisition or how much lithium concentrate it will produce.

By William Clowes, Annie Lee and Nduka Orjinmo, Bloomberg

Related story: Global investors eye Nigeria’s lithium reserves

Nigeria resumes mining in Zamfara state on improved security

Nigeria has lifted a ban on mining exploration in the northwestern state of Zamfara after a five-year suspension, the mining minister said, citing improved security.

Mining activities in Zamfara, which holds huge gold, lithium and copper deposits, were suspended in 2019 following incessant bandit attacks.

"The security operatives' giant strides have led to a notable reduction in the level of insecurity, and with the ban on exploration lifted, Zamfara’s mining sector can gradually begin contributing to the nation’s revenue pool," Dele Alake, mining minister, said in a statement on Sunday.

During the suspension, he said illegal miners had exploited the state's resources.

Africa's biggest oil producer, which is also rich in gold, limestone and zinc, wants its mining industry that contributes less than 1% of its GDP to play a bigger role in its effort to diversify the economy away from oil.

To try to encourage investors, it has introduced reforms, including revoking unused licences, offering investors a 75% stake in a new national mining company, cutting exports of unprocessed minerals, and enforcing compliance with rules against illegal mining.

In its efforts to build capacity, Nigeria at the start of this month signed a training and development agreement with France.

"We need all the support we can get, including technical, financial, and capacity-building assistance from abroad. This is not the first agreement of its kind; similar partnerships have been established with Germany and Australia," Alake said.

By Isaac Anyaogu, Reuters

Related story: Mining Week sharpens focus on long-neglected sector in Nigeria

Mining Week sharpens focus on long-neglected sector in Nigeria

Nigeria concluded a three-day conference Wednesday to mark National Mining Week. Authorities in the West African nation have been seeking to expand investments in the mining industry in a bid to diversify the economy, amid the global surge in demand for minerals.

The conference, attended by government officials, mining industry players and international investors, was part of the Nigerian government's campaign to boost not only mining, but also local processing of the minerals extracted.

Earlier this year, the Nigerian government said new investors will be required to set up local processing plants if they want to obtain a mining license.

Mary Ogbe, permanent secretary of the mining and solid minerals industry, spoke about the impending changes.

"Before now, people will come in, cart away our minerals and go and refine [them] and bring [them] back and then we're paying so much on what belongs to us,” she said. “Now, with the local value addition, no one is allowed to legally carry out our products without adding value. Now, this is creating jobs.”

Nigeria has rich deposits of more than 40 minerals, including tin, iron ore, lead, zinc and gold. The country is also a new source of lithium, a metal used in batteries and electric vehicles.

But the country's minerals are often illegally exploited and exported without generating much revenue locally.

At the summit authorities pledged to address the problem by investing in mining technologies, surveillance, data gathering, community enlightenment and enforcement of mining laws.

In March, authorities deployed 2,500 agents to police unauthorized mining activities.
This week, the government said the “Mining Marshal Corps” has arrested more than 300 illegal miners, including foreign nationals.

But economist and founder of the Center for Social Justice Eze Onyekpere said authorities are still not doing enough to boost income from the mining sector.

"It's been a mantra of successive governments to improve government revenue by diversifying into the solid minerals sector, but we're getting very infinitesimal sum of money from solid minerals mining,” he said. “And it's not as if we don't have enough solid minerals or that mining is not taking place, it is because solid minerals mining has been converted to a criminal activity especially in those areas where there's security threats and crisis but the federal government has not taken it seriously."

Despite the government's lofty goals, the mining sector contributed only about 0.77% of Nigeria’s GDP last year.

Onyekpere says until the government gets more serious, Nigeria's mining industry will not be able to reach its potential.

By Timothy Obiezu, VOA 

Related story: Nigeria government cracks down on illegal Lithium mining operations

Nigeria government cracks down on illegal Lithium mining operations

Nigeria’s government is cracking down on illegal mining, making dozens of arrests of unlicensed miners since April for allegedly stealing the country’s lithium, a critical mineral used in batteries for electric vehicles, smartphones and power systems.

The recent arrests come as Nigeria seeks to regulate its mining operations of critical minerals, curb illegal activity and better benefit from its mineral resources. The clean energy transition, a shift away from coal, oil and gas and toward renewable energy and batteries has spiked global demand for lithium, tin and other minerals. Illegal mines are rife in the country’s fledging industry as corruption among regulatory officials is common and the mineral deposits are located in remote areas with minimal government presence. Officials say profits from illicit mining practices has helped arm militia groups in the north of the county.

In the most recent arrests in mid-May, a joint team of soldiers and police conducted a raid on a remote market in Kishi, in the country’s southwestern Oyo State. Locals said the market, once known for selling farm produce, has become a center for illicit trade in lithium mined in hard-to-reach areas. The three-day operation resulted in the arrest of 32 individuals, including two Chinese nationals, local workers and mineral traders, according to the state government and locals. Loads of lithium were also seized.

Jimoh Bioku, a Kishi community leader, said there had been “clandestine searches” for the mineral at remote sites tucked away in the bush in the past years by Chinese nationals before “they engaged people to dig for them and turned the market into a transit point.” The community was “particularly worried about the insecurity that usually follows illegal mining and that was why we reported to the state government,” he said.

China is the dominant player in the global EV supply chain, including in Nigeria where China-owned companies employ mostly vulnerable people leaving Nigeria’s far north — ravaged by conflicts and rapid desertification — to work in mining operations throughout the country. China’s nationals and companies are frequently in the spotlight for environmentally damaging practices, exploitative labor and illicit mining. There have been at least three cases of illegal mining arrests involving Chinese nationals in two months.

President Bola Tinubu has repeatedly blamed illegal mining for the worsening conflicts in the country’s north and asked the international community for help to stop the problem, which provides armed groups with the proceeds needed to sustain and arm themselves.

The Chinese embassy in Abuja did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment on the arrests and claims of illegal operations. But in a statement last year following a report by The Times of London alleging Chinese miners were bribing militants for access, the embassy said it “always encouraged and urged the Chinese companies and nationals in Nigeria to abide by the laws and regulations of Nigeria.”

Nigeria is emerging as a new source of lithium in Africa as the world’s largest producers, like Australia and Chile, are unable to fulfill the growing demand worldwide. But illegal activities thrive in Nigeria’s extractive sector, denying the government due revenues, said Emeka Okoro, whose Lagos-based SBM Intelligence firm has researched illicit mining and terrorism financing in northern Nigeria.

And the combination of conflict and climate change effects, such as once fertile land rapidly turning into useless arid sand in northern Nigeria, has produced a cheap workforce for mining sites.

The arrests of “both Chinese nationals and young Hausa boys from conflict-affected regions underscore a troubling pattern,” Okoro told the AP. “The socioeconomic strain stemming from conflict and the repercussions of climate change has given rise to a vulnerable demographic desperate for survival.”

To fight resource theft that causes losses of $9 billion to the government annually, according to the country’s extractive industry transparency watchdog, the West African nation has set up a 2,200-strong “corps of mining marshals” earlier in the year.

While existing law enforcement agencies are still combating the problem, the new corps is geared at curbing “the nefarious activities of illegal miners,” said Segun Tomori, spokesperson for the solid minerals ministry.

Before the Kishi raid, the mining corps arrested two trucks laden with lithium on the outskirts of the capital Abuja in April. Later that month, the corps raided a location in Karu, Nasarawa State, near Abuja, leading to the arrest of four Chinese nationals and the seizure of tons of lithium. Tomori said the cases are now in court.

On April 22, a federal court in Ilorin, in the north-central region, convicted two Chinese nationals for illegal mining and sentenced them to a one-year jail term, although with an option of a fine.

Nigeria has long neglected the solid minerals sector, which allows some communities like the northern-central town of Jos — which is tin-abundant — to depend on subsistence mining for their livelihood.

For those communities where livelihood is tied to mining, Tomori said the government is encouraging artisanal miners there to form cooperatives and operate legally.

By Taiwo Adebayo, AP

Related story: Nigerian Billionaire Plans to Dig Platinum Mine in Zimbabwe

Gold miners face dangerous life in Nigeria's 'bandit' country

From dawn, before the sun starts to sear the earth, Biltamnu Sani is already hard at work, pounding away at the dusty soil in his perilous quest for gold.

The mineral-rich earth of Zamfara State, northwest Nigeria, has provided generations of families with the means to make ends meet.

Never easy, it is a work that today is fraught with danger, from the armed groups that rove the region and from the toxic lead that lurks in its soil.

"I've been doing this since I was 12 years old," Sani, now 26, told AFP.

"It's very challenging work, but this is our livelihood."

The mines lie within the reach of heavily-armed groups -- "bandits" in the lexicon of the local authorities -- that have been terrorising this remote region.

Gangs of mainly Fulani herders started cattle rustling and small-scale criminality decades back.

Lately, they have exploited a security vacuum to become essentially an insurgent army of thousands.

As the struggle with farmers over land expanded, other communities took up arms in a spiral of bloodshed that has seen an alarming proliferation of weapons.

The violence claimed more than a thousand lives in 2019, the regional government estimates.

In the scramble for resources, the fighters have increasingly exerted control over artisanal mining -- one of the few reliable sources of income in this impoverished region.

Miners have been forced to share profits and carry out the bidding of the armed groups in order to continue their trade.

Many locals suspect the gunmen are paid by outside interests to secure mineral-rich areas for private gain.

"The challenges in past years have been tough," Sani says.

- 'Just shoot you' -

Nigeria's central government in April announced a ban on mining in the region in a bid to curb the armed groups.

But while some companies closed down operations, local miners have carried on working by themselves.

The local authorities brokered a controversial peace deal around five months back between bandits and vigilantes that has seen some of the gangs disarm.

But the situation at the mines remains perilous.

"You enter some places and people will just shoot you," Ayuba Muhammed, the secretary of a large mining union in the state, told AFP.

The remoteness of the mines and the absence of police outside of Zamfara's capital Gusau have left all trade here brutally exposed to insecurity.

"Some of the mines you see, they have an arrangement with the bandits so that they can stay. In some other areas they cannot even try to go there," Muhammed said.

As he spoke an elderly man in his office poured out small sacks of lilac stones onto a weighing scale.

Extracting minerals from tons of solid rock typically yields only small amounts of cash, but it is still vital income for people in a part of Nigeria where 70 percent of the population are estimated to live in extreme poverty.

The mining industry in the country remains largely artisanal, beset by corruption and poorly regulated.

Successive governments have pledged -- and failed -- to bolster this lucrative sector as an alternative to the oil resources that account for the biggest chunk of Nigeria's income.

- Lead poisoning -

Compounding the insecurity are serious health risks from lead.

The highly poisonous element occurs naturally and in high abundance in Zamfara's gold-rich areas, escaping into the air when the dusty rock is pounded to extract the precious specks.

"People are doing these processes in their homes. Then their children play around in the same areas -- it is extremely dangerous," Simba Tirima, a doctor working at a clinic run by aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in the town of Anka, told AFP.

In the past decade more than 500 children have died from lead poisoning, and many others have suffered long-term ill-health.

Aliyu Usman, four, began to have violent seizures two years ago as his parents often refined gold in their compound.

"He's deaf, you can see he can look around but his gaze is blank," Tirima said, examining the boy at his rudimentary clinic.

"His mother brought him in two years ago and said 'he's not the same anymore, it's like he's not there'."

In 2010, an outbreak of lead poisoning in Zamfara prompted scientists from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to survey 122 villages.

They looked in detail at 56 of these villages, three-quarters of whom were involved in the gold trade.

Of nearly 400 children who provided blood samples, the average amount of lead in the blood was 8.5 microgrammes per litre -- previous research found that lead can damage health at levels as low as five microgrammes per litre.

The surge of deaths in 2010 led to increased awareness and improvements in the way miners worked.

But cases keep coming despite a reduction in the overall numbers.

"There are still pockets of lead exposure," Tirima said. "More needs to be done to bring mining practices into better organised and regulated spaces."

AFP