In a press briefing to journalists in Abuja, Dr. Abdulrazaq Garba, The Director-General, Nigerian Geological Survey Agency, said that the discovery of high-grade lithium in the country has been bringing many foreign investors to the country.
He added that Nigeria’s lithium which was found while the National Integrated Mineral Exploration Project was exploring parts of the country has been analyzed and it has also been confirmed that the Lithium found in the country is of a very high grade. What this means is that Nigeria’s lithium is hard rock lithium which is a well sought-after mineral for investors and companies that make use of it.
“High grade in the sense that the standard worldwide for even exploration and mining starts from 0.4 percent lithium oxide but when we started exploration and mining, we saw one percent up to 13 percent lithium oxide content.” He said
He added that they had a series of talks with private companies in the country that have the license to mine and they have also conducted their test and ascertained that it was a good mineral and the agency has also collaborated with Canada on the exploration project. He also said that the country was being affected by insecurity issues and this was challenging to investors who have had some of their workers kidnapped or attacked.
Lithium is a chemical element that is also a highly reactive metal that has different industrial uses. They could be used for heat-resistant glass and ceramics, lithium grease lubricants, flux additives for iron, steel, and aluminum production, lithium batteries, and lithium-ion batteries. They are also used for making energy-dense rechargeable batteries for electronics, such as laptops, cell phones, electric vehicles, and grid storage.
