Rockfire Resources plc (LON: ROCK), the gold and base metal exploration company, is pleased to provide an update on its diamond drilling programme at the Company's 100%-owned Copperhead porphyry project ("Copperhead") in North Queensland, Australia. Assay results for the first diamond drill hole (BCH001) are now available and signal an excellent result for the Company's inaugural drill hole.
Highlights:
· Hole BCH001 is mineralised with visible copper veins for most of its length; testimony to the potential size of the deposit. A lengthy interval of 501 m grading 0.14 % CuEq has been intersected, with the drill hole finishing with visible copper in veins.
· This extensive interval includes a stronger zone of 244 m @ 0.20 % CuEq, as well as a more intense zone of 62 m @ 0.30 % CuEq.
· An assay of 2.28 % Cu was encountered at 423 m depth and an assay of 0.50 % Cu was intersected only 6m from the end of the hole.
· The tonnage potential for Copperhead has been significantly upgraded by extending copper mineralisation a further 200 m deeper than historical drilling and management is of the opinion that grade will improve at depth.
· Alteration and visible copper mineralisation in this and subsequent drill holes indicates that our drilling is occurring in the upper, "Phyllic" levels of a large porphyry copper system (please refer to the link below).
· Drilling at Copperhead is now complete, with a total of 5 holes drilled as part of this initial campaign. Geotechnical and geological logging of the core remains in progress.
· Subject to weather conditions, the drill rig will move to Plateau to test a deep gravity anomaly southeast of the Central Breccia, down to 1,000 m depth.
David Price, Chief Executive Officer of Rockfire, comments:
"This is an outstanding result for Rockfire. The first drill hole into Copperhead for more than 50 years has hit visible copper veins along its length, over 500 m downhole. In 1972, the core was only sporadically sampled every 30 m along the length of the hole, intersecting visible copper veins over its 300 m length. Our first hole has been systematically sampled throughout its length, which has successfully extended copper mineralisation an additional 200 m deeper than previous drilling. This increases the tonnage of copper mineralisation immensely.
"There are very few bulk-tonnage porphyry copper deposits in Tier One jurisdictions globally. Our current drilling is in the high-level, quartz-sericite-pyrite ("Phyllic") alteration zone, sitting above the main porphyry source. Copperhead provides an excellent, long-term growth project for Rockfire.
"Hole BCH001 was designed to verify historical drilling from 1972. Not only did it verify the original drilling, but extended mineralisation materially. This bodes well for the bulk tonnage potential for Copperhead and grades of up to 2.28 % Cu indicate the ability of the system to generate higher-grade zones. This is an important element of exploring porphyry copper deposits.
"The Company is awaiting assay results from holes BCH002 and BCH003, which are both awaiting analysis at the laboratory. BCH004 and BCH005 are currently being geotechnically and geologically logged and will be submitted when this important work is complete. We look forward to providing the market with updated results as they are received from the laboratory."
A personalised tool to help users track selected stocks. Delivering real-time notifications on price updates, announcements, and performance stats on each to help make informed investment decisions.
(20min delay)