AUSTRALIA Stock Exchange listed mining outfit, Prospect Resources said this week it had kicked off Phase 4 of its exploration programme at Step Aside in Zimbabwe after reporting ‘robust’ results at the previous stage.

Sam Hosack, managing director and chief executive officer at the firm, said in a quarterly update for the period ended March 31, 2024 Phase 4 will cover 2 000 metres of drilling.

“At Step Aside, final results from our Phase 3 programme have produced further intercepts of robust lithium mineralisation, highlighting additional extensions to WinBin at depth and along strike, while also remaining open to the south,” Hosack said.

“We now know that the broader mineralisation zone continues further northwest, through the co-joined WinBin/pegmatite C extension.

“We are extremely pleased with the results to date from Step Aside, and with Phase 4 underway, we will continue our exploration agenda targeting further extensions to the current mineralised zone and further delineation of the footprint of this high-grade lithium deposit,” he added.

Prospect’s 100% owned Step Aside Lithium Project is situated in the Archaean Harare Greenstone Belt, about 35 kilometres east of Harare. The claim is about 100 hectares in size. Step Aside is located eight kilometres north of Arcadia Lithium Mine, which started production last year.

It was discovered by Prospect and sold to Huayou Cobalt in 2022 for about US$378 million.

Prospect began the Phase 2 drilling campaign at Step Aside early last year to expand on the success of its Phase 1 campaign.

“While still early stage, our objective at Step Aside is the rapid delineation of a maiden Jorc (joint ore reserve committee) mineral resource estimate,” Hosack said at the time.

“Our experienced in-country exploration team is focussed on quickly advancing Step Aside towards this aim. The Phase 2 drilling is designed to test the lateral and vertical extents of the three largest observed pegmatites at Step Aside.

“Pegmatite D, in particular, offers a significant existing defined scale and remains open in multiple directions,” he added.

Hosack also gave an update of Prospect’s Namibian and Zambian projects, where he said exploration was progressing.