<article><p class="lead">Australia-based Prospect Resources has started to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate from the pilot plant of its Arcadia project in Zimbabwe.</p><p>The facility has produced more than 13kg of pure lithium carbonate this week that meets or exceeds battery-grade specifications, the company said. It will soon be made available for examination and sale to prospective customers.</p><p>The plant has milled 2t of ore at an average grade of 3.8pc lithium oxide, with lithium carbonate inventory totalling around 100kg to be purified to battery grade.</p><p>A mine laboratory is fully operational at Arcadia and is achieving high rates of quality assurance on assays, including trace analysis of lithium carbonate being produced from the pilot plant.</p><p>Arcadia is Africa's second-largest lithium project, only exceeded in size by Birimian's Goulamina project in Mali. It has an ore reserve of 26.9mn t grading 1.3pc lithium oxide and 128 parts per million (ppm) tantalum pentoxide. China's Sinomine Exploration is the project's offtake partner.</p></article>
