China investment powers the lithium industry in Nigeria
Nigeria now bars companies from exporting raw lithium ore, and requires them to process it inside the country first. That single rule is why a wave of China investment is now building a lithium industry in Nigeria from the ground up. On July 3, 2026, Vice President Kashim Shettima stood in for President Tinubu to commission a 250 million dollar processing plant in Nasarawa State, built by the Chinese firms Jiuling Lithium Mining Company and Canmax Technology. The plant, run by Diamond New Energy, processes 6,000 metric tons of lithium ore a day, which the ministry describes as the largest such capacity in West Africa. Together, Jiuling and Canmax claim more than 20% of the world lithium market.
The rule behind the plants
The policy is called the local value addition policy. It means a company can no longer sell raw Nigerian lithium ore abroad. It has to build a processing plant inside Nigeria first, turning the ore into a concentrate before it can be exported or sold on. Dele Alake, the minister of solid minerals development for Nigeria, described the goal behind the rule.
We are now focused on turning our mineral wealth into domestic economic value – jobs, technology, and manufacturing.
Dele Alake, minister of solid minerals development for Nigeria. Source 4.
Enforcing the rule is a separate effort from building the plants. The ministry reports more than 300 illegal miners apprehended nationwide, more than 20 convictions against mining collaborators, and more than 250 artisanal mining cooperatives formalized, all since the policy took hold.
What the ore actually contains
A peer reviewed study published in 2025 measured Nigerian lithium ore directly rather than relying on estimates. It found raw ore at Panda in Nasarawa State holding 9.53% lithium oxide, the measure used to size a lithium deposit before it is refined into battery grade metal. Isanlu Egbe in Kogi State measured 9.34%, Ijero Aramoko in Ekiti State measured 6.10% and Kushaka measured 3.51%. After a step called flotation, which separates the lithium bearing mineral from crushed rock, concentrate from these sites reached 31.79% to 37.96% lithium oxide. In one laboratory test on ore from Keffi in Nasarawa State, researchers recovered 83.82% of the lithium under their best tested conditions.
Flotation, a process that separates and concentrates the lithium bearing mineral from crushed rock, brings ore from these kinds of sites to roughly 32% to 38% lithium oxide before it is shipped or refined further.
Show the numbers
| Panda, Nasarawa | 9.53 |
| Isanlu Egbe, Kogi | 9.34 |
| Ijero Aramoko, Ekiti | 6.10 |
| Kushaka | 3.51 |
Reserves are uneven, and one investment total does not exist
The same study estimates lithium oxide reserves across 4 states.
These are lithium oxide content estimates from 1 peer reviewed study, not raw ore tonnage and not refined metal. Nasarawa hosts the newest big processing plants despite ranking lowest of these 4 states by this estimate.
Show the numbers
| Kwara | 795 to 1,190 metric tons of lithium oxide |
| Federal Capital Territory | 450 to 1,145 metric tons of lithium oxide |
| Plateau | 280 to 840 metric tons of lithium oxide |
| Nasarawa | 150 to 350 metric tons of lithium oxide |
Nasarawa, the state hosting the newest big plants, ranks lowest of the 4 states by this estimate, while Kwara holds the largest range. No single source counts every Chinese backed lithium plant in Nigeria, so this article does not add their costs together. Reuters counted 800 million dollars across 4 Chinese backed facilities as of May 2025, more than 80% of it Chinese financed, separate from the July 2026 plant. A separate 4,000 metric ton a day plant run by Avatar New Energy Materials has been operating in Nasarawa State since 2023, at a cost the geochemistry study puts at approximately 100 million dollars.
Despite the building, Nigeria has no lithium production figure large enough to appear by name in world totals that name Australia at 55,400 metric tons and Chile at 26,000 metric tons in 2024. Nigeria is still grouped under Others. The industry is being built ahead of the ore actually coming out of the ground at scale, financed mostly from China.