Rockfire Resources leaps on 'extremely high-grade' copper discovery

Rockfire Resources' shares shot higher on Friday after the miner said it discovered high-grade copper in samples at its project in Central Queensland, Australia.

Rockfire said that 23% of samples from the Copper Dome Porphyry site, which it has the option to acquire until 23 May, showed grades above 0.5 grams per tonne gold, 5 grams per tonne silver and 0.1% copper, with highlights of up to 23.4% copper, as well as 3.2 grams per tonne gold and 952 grams per tonne silver.

According to the AIM-quoted company, elevated copper-in-soil occurs over a coherent area approximately 500m x 300m, suggesting potential for large tonnage.

David Price, chief executive of Rockfire, said: "These results from our maiden soil and rock sampling program at Copper Dome have exceeded our expectations. The coherent distribution of the copper-in-soil is encouraging for tonnage potential, whilst the copper grades in the soils are almost 80 times background levels. The rock samples have returned extremely high-grade copper and strongly elevated gold and silver in an area to the west of previous drilling."

Price added that the correlation with topographic ridges provided potential for very high-grade, vein-hosted mineralisation, as well as porphyry-style copper/gold targeted by the soil sampling.

Copper was also found in soils at a new, undrilled location to the north of previous drilling, while sampling is now set to be extended to the south to explore a second mapped porphyry.

"Our plan is to continue soil sampling towards the south to determine the extent of the copper-in-soil anomalism, which remains open towards the south and east. We will also expand our soil sampling towards the west, to explore the new western areas identified by rock sampling and geological mapping. This expansion of the original program will occur after the field crews have completed ground magnetics at Double Event within the Lighthouse tenement," said Price.

Rockfire Resources' shares were up 10.34% at 0.80p at 1328 GMT.