Recommendations from AP report on child labor in Nigeria’s lithium mines

NASARAWA, Nigeria — Growing demand for lithium used in electric vehicle batteries and energy storage has created a new frontier for mining in Nigeria.

But it has led to the exploitation of children who are often poor and work in small, illegal mines to support themselves and their families.

The Associated Press recently traveled to the deep bush of Pasali, near the federal capital of Abuja in Nasarawa state, to track and interview miners who operate illegal mines, including some where children work. The AP also witnessed negotiations and an agreement for the purchase of lithium by a Chinese company, with no questions about the source of the lithium or how it was obtained.

The International Labor Organization estimates that more than 1 million children work in mines and quarries worldwide, a particularly acute problem in Africa, where poverty, limited access to education and weak regulations add to the problem. Children, who work mostly in small-scale mines, work long hours in unsafe places, crush or sort stones, carry heavy loads of ore, and are exposed to toxic dust that can cause respiratory problems and asthma.

Some takeaways from the AP report:

How illegal mines work in Nigeria

Lithium mining began in Pasali a decade ago, turning a remote and sleepy community into a bustling place for small-scale illegal mining, said Shedrack Bala, a 25-year-old who started working in the mine at the age of 15 and now owns his own land. pit. Dozens of mines now dot the area, all unlicensed.

The exploitation methods are primitive and dangerous. Miners use chisels and heavy hammers to break rocks, descending several meters into dark pits. In some old but still viable mines, they crawl through narrow passages that wind between unstable mud walls before they start digging. To me new, the earth is blasted with dynamite.