Rockfire Resources (ROCK) , a gold and critical minerals explorer, announced more good news from its wholly-owned Molaoi polymetallic deposit in Greece. The company's geotechnical drilling programme has encountered yet more high-grade zinc, silver, and lead.
Two distinct high-grade zinc lodes have been intersected in Rockfire's 5th drill hole at Molaoi. Drill hole MO_GTK_005 is positioned approx. 50m north of the previous Rockfire holes and infills historical drilling (see map below).
Peak values detected were: zinc to 29.8% Zn, lead up to 3.3% Pb, and silver up to 204.0g/t Ag.
Rockfire said an upper lode of 2.40m @ 5.5% ZnEq occurs from 81m (4.7% Zn, 21.9g/t Ag, 0.9% Pb). A main lode comprising 3.5m@7.3% ZnEq occurs within a broader zone of 3.96m@6.6% ZnEq, starting from 87.94m. Within this main lode, a high-grade core of 1.4m@12.6% ZnEq (11.3% Zn, 77.8g/t Ag, 1.5% Pb) was found. The company said intervals exceeding the minimum underground mechanised mining width of 2m continued to be intersected.
This is yet more good news from Malaoi, which has improved its prospectity with each geotechnical hole drilled. Rockfire's predicted position and depth of the zinc lodes continues to prove its geological model correct, and the high grades of zinc have outperformed expectations. Assay results from 2 remaining holes are also expected in the coming months. Investors continue to reward the good results from Greece, pushing Rockfire shares over 100% higher year-to-date. ROCK shares jumped 4.4% on today's news.
In addition to the strong zinc continuity found so far, particularly encouraging is the positioning of the deposits, which tracks the findings of the Greek government from the 1980s. Furthermore, the minimum width for mechanised mining of 2m is still being achieved or exceeded, which is a critical aspect of mine design and planning for underground extraction.
Rockfire acquired the Molaoi deposit in March 2022 and on 23 May 2022 delivered a maiden JORC mineral resource of 2.3 million tonnes @ 11 % ZnEq. for 250,000 tonnes of ZnEq. In August 2022, Rockfire announced that metallurgical test work on the Molaoi historical core returned recoveries of zinc (89% Zn) and lead (74% Pb). Additionally, commercially saleable grades of zinc (57% Zn), silver (856 g/t Ag), lead (63.6% Pb), germanium (117 g/t Ge), copper (2.62% Cu) and gold (0.52 g/t Au) were readily returned.
Today's news continues to support Rockfire's rapid timeline to production. Based on results so far, we would expect a resource upgrade soon, followed by a feasibility study later this year. In addition to the high grades of zinc and other metals recovered, the confirmation of multiple lodes should result in a significantly increased tonnage and future profitability of the project.
Follow News & Updates from Rockfire Resources: