By AFP - Agence France Presse
Eldorado, Nigeria's lithium mining company, raises concerns
Abdullahi Ibrahim Danjija carefully chisels a piece of whitish rock in an open-pit mine before filling a sack with the pieces that come off the walls.
In a day's work, he manages to fill three 50-kilogram sacks, which will earn him 150,000 naira ($100), or about twice the minimum monthly wage in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, where more than one in two people live below the poverty line.
Three years ago, the 31-year-old miner came from Kano, in the north of the country, lured by promises that he could make a fortune by contributing to developing the artisanal lithium mining sector in the central state of Nasarawa.
There, as in other Nigerian states, the prospect of benefiting from a global explosion in demand for lithium, an essential metal for the manufacture of electric batteries and cell phones, is too attractive to ignore.
- Artisanal mines
In Gidan Kwano, not far from where Danjija was working, another group of workers refused AFP reporters access to their mine.
Several families, including women and children, were busy setting explosives to excavate the base of their artisanal mine.
Although proud of their achievement, having not obtained a mining license, they are reluctant to disclose its existence.
Much of the mining activity in Nigeria is equally small-scale, therefore artisanal and often illegal.
Even some of those who have a license exploit the land without respecting any safety or environmental guidelines.
Along Nasarawa's main road, there are rows of empty houses used as warehouses where miners and their middlemen sort and clean rock deposits to prepare concentrated lumps of lithium for customers.
One of these sellers, Matthew Danbala, was crouching down as he pounded pieces of rock. A dozen children sitting around him copied his gestures.
“We're very happy. Since the lithium arrived here, everyone, children and women, have been benefiting,” because they can go into the bush, dig and then sell the stones that cost them nothing but their labor, said Danbala.
Lithium seller Muhammed, 43, explained that in this informal economy, “most of the buyers are Chinese. They come to our warehouse to buy or, if possible, we take the product to where they are.
“But most of the time, they come to us to buy the material - that makes everyone work.”
- Chinese presence
China, the world's leading refiner and consumer of lithium, is only the second largest producer and has to import large quantities.
The Nigerian government is trying to attract foreign investment as it promotes what it calls “new oil” in what is sub-Saharan Africa's main oil producer.
The country regularly declares war on illegal miners and has made numerous arrests without managing to stifle the flow of would-be miners who see lithium as their ticket to riches.
Nigeria now wants to require foreign investors to set up processing plants on its soil - a condition that would have dissuaded billionaire Elon Musk, head of Tesla, from investing, according to Nigerian media.
Paris and Abuja signed a memorandum of understanding at the end of 2024 to carry out mining projects, mainly for lithium.
But for now, foreign investment is limited to Chinese companies such as Avatar and Ganfeng, which have set up local factories to turn raw rock into lithium oxide before sending it to Chinese factories.
Uba Saidu Malami, president of the Geological Society of Nigeria, said that sometimes the Chinese try to set up shop before sufficient exploration work has been done on the viability of the site.
“There is need for detailed exploration work to determine the lithium reserves in these areas,” said Malami, emphasizing the need for better regulation of the sector.
The Chinese “are cowboys when it comes to mining,” he added.
“They move the bulldozer and simply expand physical extraction, which is not smart mining in these days of sustainable practice and environmental sensitivity.”
- Conflict
In addition to the associated environmental risks, artisanal lithium mining can provoke local conflicts, said analyst Charles Asiegbu.
“This can happen between communities where there is a disagreement about the actual location of the resource,” said Asiegbu.
“It can also happen between communities and exploration companies. We've seen situations where companies or expatriates are attacked and, you know, even kidnapped by community members who feel they haven't received their due reparations, royalties, or whatever.”
He added that organized armed groups also take advantage of the lack of government presence in some areas “to illegally extract these resources”.
Meanwhile, Danjija continued its work at a fast pace, even during the rainy season, which can bring a frequent risk of fatalities.
Nearby, Fulani shepherds graze their cattle and burn some fields to prepare the land for the next harvest, oblivious to the regular explosions of miners blasting the surrounding rocks.
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