Rockfire Resources PLC (LSE:ROCK) shares climbed 15% to 0.2p on Monday after the explorer reported steady progress at its Molaoi zinc project in Greece, where drilling on the third hole, HMO-010, has reached 140 metres.
The company said ground conditions had improved compared with earlier holes and that massive sulphides were being intercepted at the depths predicted by its resource model.
Early readings from portable X-ray fluorescence equipment, which provides rapid, on-site indications of metal content, have shown high grades of zinc, silver and lead.
Spot results peaked at 13.9% zinc, 1.48% lead and 133 parts per million silver between 97.55 and 98.20 metres. Germanium, a critical semiconductor metal, will be assessed through laboratory assays.
Rockfire expects that, once this drill campaign is completed, Molaoi will host the only defined inferred germanium resource in Europe.
The main mineralised lodes lie deeper, with the top of the target zone starting around 200 metres. Drilling will continue through the first half of 2026 as Rockfire works to upgrade its zinc–silver–lead resource from inferred to indicated status.
Long lead-time studies for a planned pre-feasibility review (including hydrology and ecology) have already begun, each requiring at least a year of baseline data collection.
Chief executive David Price said hole HMO-010 sits several hundred metres south of previous drill sites and that the resource already extends 2.2 kilometres, with 28 holes still to go.