Natural resource exploration and development company Red Rock Resources has been issued an environmental certificate for its operations in Zimbabwe and can therefore start production and the sale of lithium product.

This follows the submission of an environmental-impact assessment (EIA) for the company’s first Zimbabwe project.

Red Rock has interests in gold, copper, cobalt, lithium and other minerals.

Work will be carried out in parallel to permit its other Zimbabwe licences for mining.

“Now that we have our environmental clearance, mining can begin on site. We are in a position to start shipping product immediately, and will make announcements as we pass various milestones.

“Zimbabwe is a top ten lithium producer and the biggest producer in Africa, and is known for its high-grade product. This is a significant milestone for Red Rock, and we are assessing the financial implications as we test material and delineate further the pegmatites within our licences,” says chairperson Andrew Bell.

In Burkina Faso, the transfer of the Boulon licence to the company has now been completed.

The Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minièresand Bureau des Mines et de la Géologie du Burkina Faso carried out a regional geochemistry survey on stream sediments in south-western Burkina Faso to identify potentially mineralised zones as targets for future prospecting operations following receipt of World Bank funding in 2011.

A channel of lithium-bearing leucogranites was identified that runs through one of the company’s gold licences. The centre of this mapped channel, containing some of the highest lithium anomalies, underlies its licence.

In Côte d’Ivoire, one of Red Rock’s applications contains historically mapped lithium occurrences in pegmatites, and lies within the area in the west of the country where recent lithium exploration has taken place.