Riccardo Liguori Mining lithium, an essential component for electric vehicle batteries and electronics, is critical to the global energy transition. However, this process often comes with serious human and environmental costs, particularly in developing countries
Every day, in the dusty bushes of Pasali, north-central Nigeria, a haunting sight unfolds: children, some as young as five, hunch over heaps of rocks with scabbed hands and crude tools, digging for pieces of lithium–the coveted “white gold” that runs the modern world. They toil in the most inhospitable conditions, feeding a supply chain that stretches from the poorest rural areas to the world’s leading tech giants.
This lightweight metal is the beating heart of lithium-ion batteries for smartphones, electric vehicles, and computers-the heart of the world’s ecological transition. Still, what seems like the world’s progress is just a spiral of suffering in the mining areas of Nigeria.
Dangerous labor in unregulated mines
Many mines in Nigeria are illegal, uncontrolled, and under little to no supervision. Workers, both male and female, as well as children, go deep down into unstable tunnels. Dynamite, smuggled from elsewhere, serves to open new veins of lithium, shaking the earth and increasing the threat of collapses.
Abdullahi Sabiu, a long-time miner, spoke to Euro News: “I know the dangers, but I have no choice. This job is my only hope for survival.”
This “only hope” is shared by many local families driven by extreme poverty. Children sort and bag lithium rocks, an arduous job that keeps them out of school. Many, like Zakaria Danladi and Juliet Samaniya, have stopped their education to support their families.
The long shadow of multinational corporations
The lithium extracted in Nigeria follows a shady trajectory to feed a global market monopolized by Chinese companies, which buy minerals from illegal mines. These conglomerates often are accused of exploiting labour and undertaking destructive environmental practices.
The following are comments from local trader Aliyu Ibrahim: “Many are orphans or live in extreme poverty. They have no alternatives.”
This chilling admission highlights the complexity of the issue: a web of buyers and sellers operating without proper governmental oversight, perpetuating a profoundly unjust system. Nigerian authorities have attempted to curb illegal activities through arrests and prosecutions, but the problem persists, deeply rooted in endemic poverty and corruption.
Lithium: a double-edged sword
Lithium is hailed as the key to a sustainable future. Its huge storage capacity makes it a core material in lithium-ion batteries powering electric vehicles and energy storage systems, but at immense human and ecological costs of extraction.
Producing lithium requires huge amounts of energy, while extraction from brine deposits also diverts precious water from often arid regions. Poor regulation and inhumane working conditions in Nigeria add to the list of concerns. “Without batteries, we won’t have a green future“, says Benjamin Sprecher, an expert in critical raw materials. “But at what cost?”
For example, in Europe alone, unexploited deposits of lithium could reduce the bloc’s reliance on countries that practice questionable ethics in its extraction. However, economic and bureaucratic challenges make it difficult for producers to compete with their rivals in the Global South.
The story of children in Nigeria’s lithium mines is a cautionary tale. One thing is for sure: a green future cannot be built on the backs of the most vulnerable. Change is possible, but it requires a collective commitment to ethics that put people over profit.
