Is Nigeria Abandoning Its Oil Riches for Lithium?

Africa’s largest producer of oil recently announced plans to transition away from its reliance on oil and go big on lithium. [Energy and Capital Header] Practical Investment Analysis for the New Energy Economy Is Nigeria Abandoning Its Oil Riches for Lithium? Jeff Siegel | Oct 23, 2023 On Friday, I told you what Elon Musk said about lithium. He called it the “new oil.” And, boy, was he right. Last week, Nigeria — Africa’s largest producer of oil — announced its plans to transition away from its reliance on oil and go big on lithium. Moreover, government officials are implementing stricter mining laws to ensure that foreign companies don’t take their lithium without adding value to the country. Here’s what Dele Alake, Nigeria's minister of solid materials, had to say: I want to emphasize the fact that the era of exporting raw solid minerals from Nigeria is over. Any company wishing to come and invest in the solid minerals industrial sector in Nigeria henceforth must add local value. According to German news outlet Deutsche Welle, mining companies that want to get into Nigeria’s lithium game must adhere to new licensing requirements that show proof of business plans that will benefit local communities. Companies that are unwilling to provide such proof will not be granted licenses. The Nigerian government knows just how valuable its lithium reserves are, just as it knows how valuable its oil reserves are. There's $322 Billion Worth of Lithium in Northwest Alberta...Why Can't Anybody Touch It? For more than 40 years, an oil company has been working a 671-square-mile chunk of northwestern Alberta, producing its lifeblood using brine that’s kept in hundreds of massive storage ponds. These storage ponds have long been known to contain a massive lithium resource, totaling an estimated 4.3 million tons. Just recently a tiny Vancouver-based technology company, founded and headed by petrochemical industry veterans, figured out a way to extract the lithium from this brine, very quickly and very efficiently. So efficiently, in fact, that the company can filter this oil field brine, returning it to the pond after processing, with a better than 95% capture rate. Production of salable lithium will cost between $3,000 and $4,000 per ton, while market rates price lithium at $70,000 per ton. They know where the lithium is, they know how to extract it, and, as of now, they have an agreement in place to work this giant lithium-rich property. Commercial production is now projected to be in place by the middle of 2024, with buyers already lining up. [Interested? Enter here to learn more.]( More than half of Nigeria’s revenue comes from oil exports. Those exports also account for 90% of the country’s foreign-exchange earnings. So as you can imagine, Nigeria is heavily reliant upon consistent global demand. However, Bloomberg data now indicates a peak in global demand for road fuels in 2027. That’s just a little over three years from now. This doesn’t bode well for any oil-producing nation. That isn’t to say Big Oil is in danger of going gently into that good night. However, Nigeria relies on oil to cover more than half of its revenue, and the government knows that demand for oil will start to wane in just three–four years. So to ensure the country’s economy doesn’t deteriorate as oil demand peaks and then eventually begins to taper off, Africa’s largest economy is preparing for the inevitable transition to electric vehicles by developing its lithium resources. This is a smart move, to be sure. China has already sunk its meat hooks into Nigeria’s bounty of lithium, but in terms of reserves, what Nigeria has is nowhere close to what the U.S. has, thanks to a recent lithium discovery in California that holds enough lithium to satisfy the needs of all electric car makers in America for the next 100 years. And the value of that supply is massive. Tiny Stock Has 264 Patents on Groundbreaking AI Tech A little-known AI tech is becoming critical to the operations of 94% of corporations... It’s projected to be in nine out of every 10 cars by 2028... And is already essential to the workflow of 80% of hospitals. Which is the real reason why Bill Gates bet an enormous $20 billion on this AI niche... double what he invested in ChatGPT. Yet one tiny company already holds 264 ironclad patents on this tech. And it's lined up to hand savvy investors like you 5,300% profits. [Click here for the full story.]( We’re talking nearly half a trillion dollars' worth of lithium from this one region. In terms of lithium finds, it’s the most valuable in the world, and not just because of its size but also its location. As I noted last week, the U.S. government has mandated that 40% of critical minerals found in EV batteries will have to be domestically sourced or come from countries with which the U.S. has free trade agreements. And in less than three years, that percentage is expected to rise to 80%. The U.S. is one of the fastest-growing markets for electric cars. In fact, by 2030, more than half of all new car sales in the U.S. will be electric. While I certainly won’t trivialize the value of Nigeria’s lithium reserves, from an investment perspective, I’m putting my chips on the company developing this massive reserve in America, which, by the way, is now being called the "Saudi Arabia of lithium." Between federal mandates on domestic lithium production and the rapid demand for electric cars in the U.S., it’s just a no-brainer. That’s why I put together [this investment note]( explaining just how big this deposit is and, of course, the company that’s developing it and will ultimately monopolize the domestic lithium market. So unless you hate money, I’d encourage you to [get a piece of this action for yourself right now](. To a new way of life and a new generation of wealth... [Jeff Siegel Signature] Jeff Siegel [[follow basic]Check us out on YouTube!]( [[follow basic]@JeffSiegel on Twitter]( Jeff is the founder and managing editor of Green Chip Stocks. For more on Jeff, go to his editor's [page](. Want to hear more from Jeff? 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