LITHIUM miner, Prospect Resources Limited (PRL) has announced the discovery of high-grade lithium deposits at its Step Aside Mine, in Goromonzi, following the completion of its second diamond drilling phase.
Step Aside Mine, acquired by PRL in March 2022, is eight kilometres north of the miner’s former mining prospect, Arcadia Lithium Mine which was sold to Chinese miner Huayou Cobalt Co Ltd last year for US$422 million.
Phase 2 of a diamond drilling programme at the Step Aside Lithium Project was completed earlier this month after it began nearly three and half months back.
“The stage 2 drilling results at Step Aside, combined with the highly prospective geochemical soil anomalies returned to the south, demonstrate the significant additional potential underlying this project,” PRL managing director Sam Hosack said in a statement last week.
“We look forward to targeting further extensional and blind lithium mineralisation targets with the stage 3 programme, the design of which is well advanced with drilling expected to commence in the next six weeks.”
According to PRL, the Step Aside project consists of a folded sequence of meta-sediments of the Gwebi and Mapfeni Members, of the Passford Formation.
These meta-sediments are the youngest rocks in the Harare Greenstone Belt, and they were intruded by north-trending pegmatites, dolerites, and quartz veins of the Mashonaland Suite.
“Our core targets remain unchanged at Step Aside — rapid growth in defined mineralised footprint at strong tenor, and delineation of a JORC-reportable Mineral Resource estimate that reflects such attractive lithium deposition,” Hosack said.
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The miner stated that the second stage of drilling has generated significant extensional intersections of high-grade lithium mineralisation across multiple targeted pegmatites.
“The stage 2 diamond drilling programme at Step Aside comprised a total of 20 drill holes for approximately 2 221 metres, targeting pegmatites A, B, D, E and F. The work followed on from the successful stage 1 maiden programme of mixed RC and diamond drilling completed last year (refer Prospect ASX Announcement dated 20 October 2022), which outlined extensive, consistent, steep dipping, spodumene-dominated lithium mineralisation in all pegmatites targeted,” PRL said.
“The goal of the stage 2 programme was to extend the defined lithium mineralisation at Step Aside both along strike and down dip — which was successfully achieved. In particular pegmatite D has been extended along strike and down dip, pegmatite B has thickened at depth and pegmatite E has generated significant drill intersections of high-grade lithium mineralisation.”
PRL said all these deposits demanded significant follow-up drilling in the next stage of exploration at Step Aside.
“These results are complemented by coherent “blind” lithium anomalies in recent regional soil geochemical sampling programmes,” PRL said.
Earlier this month, PRL announced having cash reserves of US$18,86 million to explore Step Aside Mine.
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