By Our Reporter
Last week, Nasarawa State Governor, Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule paid an inspection visit to Ganfeng Lithium Industry refining plant in Shagamu, Ogun State.
A statement from the Governor’s office said the visit to the plant was to track the lithium from Nasarawa being refined at the plant pending the completion of another of the company’s plant being built in Endo, Nasarawa State in June of this year.
Last year, the company found itself in unplanned controversy when Bloomberg reported that its name was not original.
According to the report, the investors behind the $250 million lithium investment in Nigeria had no links with more established China-based companies bearing the same name.
According to the report, Ganfeng Lithium Industry Ltd., Tianqi Lithium Industrial Ltd. and Ningde Era Industrial Ltd. have nothing to do with three nearly identically named behemoths listed on the Shenzhen and Hong Kong stock exchanges.
According to Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) records, the Nigerian firms were registered on September 13, 2022, with an address listed as High Court Road, Ipegba, Sagamu, Ogun state while the Chinese ones were established in 2000.
However, the unwanted controversy seems to have paid off, as two major Chinese lithium manufacturers have now invested in, and taken control of the Nigerian lithium producer.
According to a recent Bloomberg report, the acquisition, involving Canmax Technologies Co. Ltd. and Jiangxi Jiuling Lithium Co. Ltd., gives them a controlling stake in Ganfeng Lithium Industry Ltd., which is developing a refinery in Nasarawa in addition to the one in Ogun State.
The firm, established by Chinese investors in 2022, caused confusion in 2023 when it began building a $250 million lithium processing plant. The company later clarified that it had no official connection to Ganfeng Lithium Group Co. Ltd., one of the world’s biggest lithium chemical suppliers, though it did not explain the similarity in names.
Corporate records indicate that Canmax and Jiuling finalised their takeover in mid-2024, bringing financial strength and industry expertise to Nigeria’s emerging lithium sector. Until now, most of the country’s lithium ore has been exported to China for processing.
This move shows China’s continued push to secure lithium supplies in anticipation of rising global demand for electric vehicle batteries. Chinese firms have been aggressively investing in African lithium deposits, from Mali to Zimbabwe, even as prices have plunged nearly 90% from their 2022 peak.
Canmax, a major lithium chemicals producer listed in Shenzhen, has also committed over $200 million to developing two additional lithium mining sites in northern Nigeria in partnership with local firm Three Crown Mines Ltd. The company’s founder, Pei Zhenhua, is a key investor in Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL), the world’s leading EV battery maker. Meanwhile, Jiuling, based in China’s lithium-rich Jiangxi province, supplies chemicals to CATL.
Nigeria holds vast reserves of valuable minerals, including gold, tin, and lithium, though much of the extraction is done informally by small-scale miners. The Nigerian Ganfeng secured a 10-year mining agreement in September under permits issued by the Nasarawa state government, where the refinery is under construction.
The first phase of the plant is expected to be completed by mid-2025, with the second phase following four months later, according to Ibrahim Abdullahi, CEO of the Nasarawa State Development and Investment Agency. “Nasarawa state is pleased with this investment and welcomes more of it,” he said.
Canmax and Jiuling, which now own 75% of Nigerian Ganfeng, declined to comment on the acquisition.
