Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, has expressed satisfaction with the progress of work at the site of construction of a lithium factory owned by a Chinese firm, Landmark Lithium Mining Company, in Nasarawa Local Government Area of the State.
Sule who visited the site on Friday said that he was confident that the factory, estimated to cost 100 million USD with 3000 tones of lithium per day production, will give a boost to the industrialization drive of his administration.
He disclosed that with Nasarawa State said to have the highest deposit of lithium in the North Central, an expensive mineral that has in high demand in the world market, his administration did everything possible to encourage the Chinese company to mine lithium in Nasarawa Local Government Area.
“I am very satisfied in the sense that this is what we are talking about when we talk about industrialization in Nasarawa State.
“We have been talking about it for a very long time, just like oil.
“We have been saying that we have lithium in Nasarawa State.
“Lithium is one of the most attractive and most expensive minerals that is being traded in the world market today.
“In fact, it has risen over 10 times its price today.
“Lithium is what people are using to produce batteries, either solar batteries or even the battery you have in your car.
“It has been mentioned over time that Nasarawa State is one of the states with the highest quantity of lithium in the North Central part of Nigeria.
“There is also lithium in Kwara, Niger, and Kogi, but Nasarawa State has been so lucky to have the largest commercial quantity.
“Today, we are very lucky in the drive for industrialization.
“We encouraged this company to start mining lithium as well as the finished products here rather than taking the raw lithium out of Nasarawa State.
“Today, you can see the dream come true.
“They are investing over $100 million on this site and they are constructing a brand new factory that is capable of actually processing 3000 metric tones of lithium a day.”