Harare – Australian-listed Prospect Resources, announced on Tuesday that it has been granted a mining lease covering the Arcadia Lithium Mine.

The mining lease covers an area of 1.031 hectares and encompasses some 57 mining claims owned by Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe.

“In an announcement on the ASX the company said, “Prospect Resources Ltd (ASX: PSC) (“Prospect”, “the Company”) is pleased to announce that the Mining Affairs Board of Zimbabwe has issued to Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe (Pvt) Limited a Mining Lease covering the Arcadia Lithium Mine.

“The Mining Lease covers an area of 1,031 hectares and encompasses some 57 Mining Claims owned by Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe. The purpose of a Mining Lease is to amalgamate contiguous mining claims under one licence, to simplify tenement management,” it said.

Under provisions of the Mines and Minerals Act of Zimbabwe, a Mining Lease is a perpetual licence, renewed annually.

In May this year, Prospect Resources said it has secured more than $55 million in funding for the first phase of the Arcadia Lithium project in Zimbabwe and expects to produce concentrates for export going forward.

Zimbabwe’s new administration is pushing lithium as a major draw for investors as it looks to attract capital to its mining sector following the ousting last year of former president Robert Mugabe after almost four decades in power.

Director at Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe, Paul Chimbodza, earlier told journalists that the funding is currently a mix of foreign equity and off-take prepayments.

He said Prospect is also considering additional finance offers including foreign debt and equity and local borrowings.

He added that China’s Shenzhen-listed Sinomine had bought equity into Prospect valued at $10 million and would also pay another $10 million in advance payment for lithium concentrates. Sinomine has a seven-year take-off agreement with Prospect.

The Arcadia mine will produce concentrates for the battery and ceramics industry, said Chimbodza, adding that it would take up to three years to start commercial production of battery-grade lithium carbonate.

The Arcadia project is located 38km east of Harare and lies in the high veld near the Arcturus gold mine. The deposit is made up of Winston, Takashi, Green Mamba, Bing, Tourit, and the Oribi Li-Be claims, which were operated before the early 1970s.