Processing 6,000 tons of lithium ore per day! A large-scale Chinese-owned lithium processing plant in Nigeria officially begins production.

On July 7, multiple authoritative local media outlets in Nigeria reported that a large-scale lithium ore beneficiation and processing plant located in Nasarawa State, Nigeria, has officially commenced production and operation. Based on the statistical measure of lithium raw ore processing capacity, this project is currently the lithium ore processing base with the strongest processing capacity and the largest volume in West Africa, operated and managed entirely by the Chinese-invested joint venture Diamond Energy Group.

Project Capacity and Investment Overview

This lithium processing plant features complete core hardware support, with a designed daily processing capacity of 6,000 tons of lithium raw ore. Calculated based on continuous year-round production, the total annual processing capacity of raw ore can reach 3 million tons. Based on the conversion of the local average grade of spodumene, the project is expected to produce approximately 30,000 tons of lithium concentrate products (equivalent to LCE) annually upon full production, which will directly supply stable upstream raw materials to domestic lithium salt production lines.

According to public information from the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Mines, the total investment for this project is approximately 250 million USD. It includes a complete production line covering raw ore crushing, flotation separation, environmental tailings treatment, and concentrate storage and outbound transport. Nigerian Vice President Shettima, commissioned by President Tinubu, attended the inauguration ceremony. The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, the Governor of Nasarawa State, local traditional tribal chiefs, and corporate representatives jointly participated in the commissioning event. The project is regarded by the local government as a benchmark project for implementing the policy of local value addition of minerals.

Equity Background: Equal Joint Venture Operation by Two Major Domestic Lithium Enterprises

Diamond Energy Group is a pure Chinese-invested overseas project platform with a clear equity structure. It is jointly held by Jiangxi Jiuling Lithium Industry Co., Ltd. and Suzhou Tianhua New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (Tianhua New Energy, 300390), with each party holding 50% of the shares, implementing a cooperative model of equal shareholding and joint operation.

Both enterprises are core upstream manufacturers in the domestic lithium battery industry, offering significant advantages in division of labor and synergy:

· Jiuling Lithium specializes in the domestic lithium mica extraction and lithium carbonate production sectors, possessing mature lithium salt smelting processes;

· Tianhua New Energy is a global leading supplier of lithium hydroxide and a core lithium salt partner of CATL, possessing stable downstream customer channels for power batteries.

Tracing the timeline of the project's implementation, the two parties completed the acquisition of mining rights for the Ogapa lithium mine in Nigeria as early as 2024 through a domestic joint venture platform. Simultaneously, they planned the supporting beneficiation and processing plant to achieve an integrated layout of "mining + on-site beneficiation," fully locking in mine resources and processing capacity and avoiding the risks of fluctuations in overseas raw ore trade.

Aligning with Nigerian Local Industrial Policies to Avoid Restrictions on Raw Ore Exports

In recent years, Nigeria has introduced a series of new mineral control policies, explicitly tightening the channels for direct export of lithium raw ore, vigorously promoting local deep processing, and ensuring that the value-added of mineral resources remains within the country. Emulating the development paths of Indonesia's nickel mines and Zimbabwe's lithium industry, the country aims to attract overseas capital to land processing projects. These related mineral localization reforms are expected to attract a total of 2.6 billion USD in foreign investment.

The processing plant put into production this time aligns perfectly with the country's policy orientation: The lithium raw ore mined does not need to be transported across borders as naked ore; instead, it is directly separated and processed into high-grade lithium concentrate within the plant complex before being sold externally. This not only meets Nigeria's requirements for local industrial value addition but also helps Chinese enterprises avoid the ban on raw ore exports, opening up a stable and compliant channel for the return of raw materials. Meanwhile, West African lithium mines possess advantages such as high raw ore grades and lower comprehensive mining costs compared to Australian lithium mines, which can effectively lower the raw material costs for domestic lithium salt production in the long term.

Strategic Industry Significance: Improving the Diversified Overseas Layout of Domestic Lithium Resources

From the perspective of the global lithium battery industry chain, the implementation of this project holds multiple industry values. Previously, domestic lithium raw materials were highly dependent on imports of Australian spodumene, with a single supply channel susceptible to impacts from overseas policies, maritime transport, and geopolitical fluctuations. This time, Jiuling Lithium and Tianhua New Energy have joined forces to launch a large-scale beneficiation plant in West Africa. Combined with the independent lithium mine project in Kebbi State, Nigeria (85% shareholding, planned for production and volume ramp-up in 2027) simultaneously promoted by Tianhua New Energy, this forms a dual African lithium resource base layout. This significantly disperses the risk of upstream raw material supply and enhances the voice and influence of Chinese enterprises in the global lithium resource sector.

Market institutions interpret that the annual supply scale of 30,000 tons of LCE will continue to provide stable raw material replenishment for the domestic lithium salt production capacity of the two shareholder companies, hedging the cost pressure brought by cyclical fluctuations in lithium prices. As the factory gradually completes its production ramp-up, it will continue to transport lithium concentrate back to China, alleviating the industry pain point of insufficient self-sufficiency in upstream resources for the domestic lithium battery industry chain.

On the local level in Nigeria, the commissioning of this project has also driven local employment and the development of supporting infrastructure, promoted the industrialized development of lithium resources in Nasarawa State, and assisted Nigeria in building a West African new energy mineral processing hub, deeply binding it to the demands of the global new energy transformation industry chain.