The investors who are backing the recent $250 million lithium project have been found to be copycats and not affiliated with the China-based companies bearing the same name as these copycat companies as revealed by Bloomberg in an October 27 report.
According to Bloomberg, 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. Instead, they were founded recently and registered in Nigeria as independent companies.
Difference between the original and copycat companies
According to Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) records as of Friday, October 27, the companies identified as copycats by Bloomberg were registered almost around the same time in 2022 bearing the same name as mining giants in China:
Ganfeng Lithium Industry: The Nigerian entity, registered on September 13, 2022, with an address listed as High Court Road, Ipegba, Sagamu, Ogun state. It should be noted that the original Ganfeng Lithium Industry was founded in China in the year 2000 and is located in Jiangxi Province. The latter is a prominent player in the global lithium industry.
Tianqi Lithium Industrial Limited: This company, also registered on September 8, 2022, shares the same address as Ganfeng Lithium Industry in Sagamu, Ogun state.
However, the original Tianqi Lithium Industrial Limited, established in 2000, operates in Southwest China, specifically in Sichuan. The latter is a major player in the global lithium production sector, controlling more than 46% of lithium production worldwide.
Ningde Era Industrial Limited: Registered on August 24, 2022, with an address in High Court Road, Ipegba, Sagamu, Ogun state, this company is not associated with the original Contemporary Amperex Technology Company Limited (tagged Ningde Era), which was founded in 2011.
The original company is located in Ningde, Fujian province, China, and is a significant player in the global battery and energy storage industry.
Backstory
On October 13, Nairametrics reported that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu marked the beginning of construction for a remarkable “$250 million lithium factory in Nasarawa State.”
The ambitious facility, known as the Ganfeng Lithium Industry Limited factory, will be situated in the Endo community of Udege Development Area within the Nasarawa Local Government Area.
Once completed, this mega factory is expected to process a substantial 18,000 metric tons of lithium each day, contributing to an impressive annual output of 4.5 million metric tons.
At the inauguration of the factory, President Tinubu, represented by Dele Alake, the Minister of Solid Mineral Development, emphasized the project’s alignment with his administration’s industrialization policy.
Is this another P&ID in the making?
Lord have mercy.who is behind this scam? They will make mega dollars from the lithium sales while pretending to be foreign investors.is tinubu not aware of this revelation?
The practice is that the foreign companies need to be registered in Nigeria before the can be given concessions to carry out business in the country. So there they are not copycats. The original companies in China will use the registered companies as vehicles to achieve their business dreams. It’s the same thing our Nigerian banks did in other African countries.
Bros uzor, help me look this matter ooh, and is not only endo self they get many location, garin dutse and kama oto is also among.
We invite all kinds of people without background checks and call them expatriates. Same way we register companies from fraudsters and believe to get the best. As you can see the companies are built on cracked foundations already, what we will get will be marginalisation of indigenous people, slavery and poor pay without pension and health benefits. We must stop them now and do a proper check.
You’re very correct.
However, I don’t think they need to be affiliated with the runners in China as far as they have the capability and capacity to make it work without wasting and playing Nigeria/Nigerians
Lithium is used in manufacturing chips. Chips is used in making phones. Cellphones and other digital tablets. The money from the lithium will disappear into private pockets just like they did with gold.
This copycat companies do not have Community consent, Environmental impact Assessment (EIA) as well as Community development Agreement with ENDO Community.
How on Earth did the regulators of our irreplaceable scarce mineral resources Approve such gross illegal activities.. Worsts of all they evacuate this resources at Night pausing serious security threat to the community after polluting the environment with artisanal mining method instead of world class mining concept which they claim to have..
Outright revocation of their EL & ML is the best way to go. We are confident the Minister will act with despatch.