Nigeria’s lithium mining ‘El dorado’ seeks to benefit from global demand

Artisanal lithium mining in Nigeria attracts workers seeking fortune, despite illegal activity and limited foreign investment opportunities.

At an open-cast mine, Abdullahi Ibrahim Danjija carefully chisels away at a hunk of whitish rock before stuffing a sack with the pieces which break off the walls.

In the course of a day’s work he manages to fill three 50-kilo bags which will net him 1,50,000 nairas ($100), or around double the monthly minimum wage in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation where more than one in two live below the poverty line.

Three years ago the 31-year-old miner came down from Kano in the north lured by promises of being able to make his fortune by contributing to the development of the artisanal lithium mining industry in the central State of Nasarawa.

There, as in other Nigerian States, the prospect of benefiting from a global explosion in demand for lithium, a critical metal in the manufacturing of electric batteries and mobile phones, is just too attractive to miss.

At Gidan Kwano, not far from where Mr. Danjija was beavering away, another group of workers refused access to their mine.

Several families, including women and children, were busy laying explosives to carve into the base of their artisanal site.

While proud of their achievement, not having acquired a mining permit, they are reluctant to advertise its existence.