Rockfire upbeat on latest drilling data from Plateau

Gold and base metal explorer Rockfire Resources announced all drilling results from the January programme at the Plateau Gold Deposit on Tuesday, which is part of the Lighthouse tenement in north Queensland, Australia.

The AIM-traded firm said drilling had returned “extensive” intercepts of continuous gold mineralisation, comparable to hole BPL025, which hit 177 metres at 0.5 grams of gold per tonne, as announced on 26 November.

It said that an important project milestone was reached, with a two grams of gold per tonne zone being encountered at 145 metres downhole.

At the nearby Mt Wright Gold Mine, it noted that the two grams per tonne zone was first discovered 158 metres downhole.

All drill holes hit gold, expanding Plateau to 200 metres long, 70 metres wide and 200 metres deep.

The company highlighted 171 metres at 0.4 grams of gold per tonne in hole BPL027, from 26 metres, including 39 metres at one grams per tonne from 145 metres, and 11 metres at 2.3 grams per tonne from 145 metres.

A peak gold value of one metre at 10.05 grams of gold per tonne was encountered in BPL027.

It also highlighted 170 metres at 0.4 grams of gold per tonne in hole BPL030 from 37 metres, including 10 metres at one gram per tonne from 54 metres, and 19 metres at one gram per tonne from 174 metres.

At hole BPL026, the company pointed to 154 metres at 0.2 grams of gold per tonne in hole BPL026 from 97 metres, 46 metres at 0.3 grams per tonne from 200 metres and 15 metres at 0.5 grams per tonne from 226 metres.

Those holes extended mineralisation more than 100 metres east of the previously-reported results from drill hole BPL025 of 177 metres at 0.5 grams of gold per tonne.

BPL028 was a 251 metre deep hole, which was the limit of rig capability, which hit mineralisation in the last 10 metres of the hole.

The bottom of the hole averaged 10 metres at 0.3 grams of gold per tonne, and included one metre at 1.7 grams per tonne in the very last metre.

Rockfire also reported eight metres at 1.1 grams of gold per tonne from 84 metres in hole BPL031, which was an in-fill hole, and eight metres at one grams of gold per tonne from 40 metres in hole BPL029, which was a shallow in-fill hole, within a broad zone of 28 metres at 0.5 grams per tonne.

“These long intervals of gold in the upper levels of Plateau are extremely positive and demonstrate the size of the mineralising system,” said chief executive officer David Price.

“The Rockfire technical team continues to see similarities to the Mt Wright Gold Mine, 45 kilometres to the northeast of Plateau, hosting over 1.5 million ounces of gold, where the main gold ore is between 400 metres and 850 metres below surface.

“We appear to be at the top of a similarly large gold deposit.”

Price said the dimensions of Mt Wright, which is 250 metres long, 60 metres wide and mined to over 1,200 metres deep, compared “favourably” with those of Plateau, being 200 metres long, 70 metres wide and currently drilled to 240 metres.

He said the broad intervals of gold mineralisation between 0.2 and 0.5 grams per tonne in the top 200 metres were also characteristic of Mt Wright.

“The next step is for Rockfire is to conduct a controlled-source audio-frequency magnetotellurics (CSAMT) geophysical survey.

“Such a survey is expected to provide a high-definition target generation beneath the levels drilled so far at Plateau.”

Price noted that CSAMT was used “very effectively” at Mt Wright, leading to the identification of deep drill targets.

“This is expected to commence as quickly as possible after the wet season finishes.”

At 1001 GMT, shares in Rockfire Resources were down 6.33% at 1.12p.