The drilling of the Greek deposit at Molaoi is wielding positive results for Australian company ‘Rockfire’, with promising signs of large quantities of metals and raw materials at the site.
The base metal, gold, and critical mineral exploration company began drilling at the Molaoi deposit in late 2023, stating their aim is not to increase potential production capacity but to confirm the findings of the historic drill core and the high grades of metals previously noted.
This has been conducted in line with the environmental study permit that was approved by the Greek Government last April, giving them a five-year deal to explore the deposit and mine for the potential wealth of the Greek subsoil in basic metals and critical raw materials.
Exploration drilling of the site has been focussed on a 1.5 km long strike of mineralisation while there is an additional 5.5 km strike of favourable geology, which also contains high-grade intersections in limited drilling.
Rockfire stated in a post on their LinkedIn page from Monday March 4 that it “continues to drill day and night at our 100%-owned Molaoi base metal and critical mineral deposit in Greece”.
The volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit in the Peloponnese has shown indications of significant quantities of silver, zinc and lead (minerals with many applications for industry).
In addition to this, there is also said to be large quantities of gallium and germanium at the deposit, two critical raw materials which the European Union realised recently it needs in large quantity and has been very dependent on China for supply of it.
As per the announcement from last April, Rockfire reiterated that the company was going to drill and mine from the already 179 holes at the deposit, rather than focus on further exploration.
“Our planned drilling for the remainder of 2023 is designed to upgrade the resource from ‘Inferred’ to the ‘Measured and Indicated’ categories,” said Rockfire CEO David Price in the company’s announcement last April.
According to market sources, this work is all being done in anticipation of advancing to the next phase, which would be a feasibility study of the deposit (something that was also mentioned in their April announcement), before ultimately putting the mine into production.
The Australian company was the only one to submit a binding financial offer for the lease of the Molaoi Public Mining Area announced by the Ministry of the Interior in 2021.
The Greek Government awarded Hellenic Minerals IKE (a Greek-registered company and a 100% subsidiary of Rockfire) a 30-year exploration and mining licence for the Molaoi project by the Greek Government in March 2022.
Rockfire has reportedly spoken highly of the deal which they view as crucial in its plan of expanding its operations in Europe.
The company is well known for its Lighthouse, Copper Dome and Copperhead exploration projects based in Queensland, with the region particularly rich in gold which is found largely at the Lighthouse project.