Nigeria Just Built West Africa's Largest Lithium Plant

Nigeria has commissioned West Africa's largest lithium processing plant — a $250 million facility in Nasarawa State processing 6,000 tonnes of lithium ore a day. For years, Nigeria's lithium left the country as raw rock and came back as batteries at many times the price. In July 2026, that changed. The Diamond New Energy plant in Endo, Nasarawa — built with Chinese firms Jiuling and Canmax — is the first big win of Nigeria's local value-addition policy, which now blocks mining licences for anyone without a plan to process minerals inside the country. But the most interesting part is the timing. Nigeria broke ground during the worst lithium price crash in the metal's history, when prices had fallen more than 90% and the rest of the world was mothballing projects. The plant switched on just as prices doubled back. This is the story of the rock under Nigeria — averaging 3.5% lithium oxide against a global commercial norm of 1–2% — the plant built on top of it, and how far Nigeria still has to climb up the battery value chain. #Nigeria #Lithium #Infrastructure