Tinubu commissions 6,000 metric tons per day lithium processing plant in Nasarawa

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has commissioned a new lithium processing plant described as the largest lithium processing facility in Africa.

President Tinubu commissioned the Diamond New Energy lithium mining and processing plant located in Endo, Nasarawa Local Government Area on Thursday.

The plant, built by Diamond New Energy, a Chinese firm, in partnership with the Nasarawa State Government, has a processing capacity of 6,000 tonnes of lithium per day and represents an investment of about 250 million dollars.

It was constructed in collaboration with Chinese firms Jiuling and Canmax, whose combined global production capacity accounts for over 20 percent of the world lithium market.

Represented at the event by Vice President Kashim Shettima, the President said the commissioning demonstrated that Nigeria was ready to move from the extraction of raw minerals to full local processing and value addition.

He said the plant was part of the Federal Government’s renewed hope agenda to reposition mining as a driver of industrialisation, job creation and economic diversification, noting that lithium remained central to battery technology and the global energy transition.

President Tinubu commended the leadership of Governor Sule, describing him as a governor who had built an environment where investors could operate with confidence, and said Nasarawa State’s peaceful, inclusive character had made it attractive to serious investment.

Governor Sule, in his remarks, thanked President Tinubu and the investors for the confidence reposed in the state, noting that Nasarawa is endowed with lithium, zinc, copper, gemstones, cobalt, gold, marble and iron ore, in addition to strong agricultural potential.

He said the state government had worked to secure the once volatile Endo community to enable the project to take off, and called on the investors to ensure their operations translate into direct benefits for host communities.

The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, in his remarks, said the commissioning validated the ministry’s seven-point reform agenda, particularly its local value addition policy, which bars the export of raw minerals and mandates processing within Nigeria before export.

He disclosed that the Federal Government’s mining marshals had apprehended over 300 illegal miners and secured convictions against more than 20 collaborators since the security outfit was established, while more than 250 artisanal mining cooperatives had been formalised nationwide to curb illegal mining and expand access to formal financing.

Alake said the ministry no longer issues mining titles or licenses without a concrete local processing plan, adding that the Diamond New Energy plant was proof that Nigeria’s solid minerals reforms were yielding results within a short period, having flagged off the project’s groundbreaking about a year earlier.

Senator Ahmed Aliyu Wadada, the APC governorship candidate for Nasarawa State, commended the investment but called for the full lithium value chain, including battery production, to eventually be domiciled in the state.

He disclosed that he is sponsoring a bill to upgrade the Federal Polytechnic Nasarawa into a university of mining and engineering technology, to build local capacity for the sector.

On her part, Nasarawa State Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Princess Margret Elayo said the project aligned with the environmental sustainability pillar of the renewed hope agenda, stressing that the state government required mining operators to follow global best practices on land reclamation, biodiversity protection and community welfare.

The Chairman and CEO of Jiuling and Canmax, Mr Yu Chongqiang, said Nigeria was chosen as the company’s first project location in Africa because of the country’s security environment and the friendliness of government policy, describing the Nasarawa facility as currently the largest lithium processing project in West Africa.

The event forms part of continuing efforts by the Federal Government and the Nasarawa State Government to reposition the solid minerals sector as a major driver of economic diversification, following reforms including the local value addition policy, the mining marshals security initiative and the formalisation of artisanal mining cooperatives across the country.