Nasarawa State has taken another step towards building a stronger lithium industry, securing a $2 million supplementary agreement with Chinese-backed Diamond New Energy to sustain raw material supplies for its refining operations and deepen the state’s participation in the mineral value chain.
The agreement was signed on Friday at the Nasarawa State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja, with Governor Abdullahi Sule presiding over the ceremony following his recent investment visit to China.
At the heart of the deal is a practical objective: keeping the refinery supplied with lithium feedstock while ensuring Nasarawa State, as a mining licence holder, continues to benefit from the project.
Governor Sule said the arrangement was structured to protect both the company’s operations and the interests of the state. He explained that securing the necessary mining licence quickly was important to prevent the opportunity from being lost to another party, while ensuring the refinery remains functional and the jobs created by the investment are preserved.
“By keeping your factory operational, we ensure that you continue to get raw material. That is the essence of this agreement, and that is the essence of us quickly obtaining that license before somebody else will get it. Now we have achieved both aims,” Sule said.
“We are going to keep your factory functional, and we also have an interest as license owners in whatever you are doing in your company. More importantly, the people you have employed will remain employed.”
The latest agreement builds on a mining cooperation partnership entered into in 2024. According to Ibrahim Abdullahi, Managing Director of the Nasarawa State Investment Development Agency (NASIDA), that earlier partnership played a role in the development of what he described as the largest lithium processing refinery in West Africa.
Under the supplementary arrangement, lithium materials from the state government’s mining block will continue to serve as feedstock for the refinery. Beyond securing supply, the deal provides an immediate $2 million financial benefit to the state and is expected to create additional revenue opportunities in the future.
Diamond New Energy also reaffirmed its commitment to processing more of Nasarawa’s mineral resources within the state rather than limiting its activities to extraction.
David Siong, a representative of the company, said Diamond New Energy believes in expanding resource development, deep processing, employment opportunities and broader economic activity within Nasarawa communities.
“Diamond New Energy always insists on and firmly believes in the further development of resources in Nasarawa, the deep processing of resources, creating employment for the local community, and boosting local economic development. We look forward to the support of the state government to put this cooperation into practice,” Siong said.
The agreement comes at a significant moment for Nasarawa’s emerging position in Nigeria’s mineral-processing landscape.
In July, the Federal Government inaugurated a lithium processing plant in the state with the capacity to process 6,000 metric tonnes of material daily. The facility is currently the largest lithium processing plant operating in Nigeria, adding to the state’s growing reputation as a centre for mineral processing.
Nasarawa’s development is also part of a national push to move Nigeria beyond the export of unprocessed minerals and capture more value from its natural resources domestically.
The Federal Government has projected that ongoing reforms in the mining sector could unlock about $2.6 billion in mineral-processing investments. The pipeline includes an $800 million lithium processing investment, a $600 million lithium processing facility in Nasarawa State, a $200 million lithium processing plant near Abuja awaiting commissioning, and a $1 billion iron ore-to-steel project in Kogi State.
Zamfara State recently unveiled a $200 million lithium mining and processing project involving several local and foreign partners, with the project expected to contribute to mining investment and employment while expanding value-added processing.
Nigeria’s commercially viable lithium deposits are spread across a number of states, including Kaduna, Plateau, Cross River, Oyo, Ekiti, Kwara, Kogi and Nasarawa, with further prospects identified in other parts of the country.
Among the minerals found in these deposits are spodumene and lepidolite, high-grade lithium-bearing minerals with applications in electric vehicle batteries, consumer electronics and renewable energy storage.
As investment in lithium processing expands, developments such as this could help position Nasarawa and Nigeria more firmly within the rapidly evolving global energy and battery-materials supply chain.
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