REG - Rockfire Resources - Germanium Export Ban by China

Rockfire ResourcesAnnouncement

04/12/2024 12:15

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
https://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20241204:nRSD8167Oa&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 8167O  Rockfire Resources PLC  04 December 2024

4 December 2024

Rockfire Resources plc

("Rockfire" or the "Company")

Germanium Export Ban

 

·    Major supply chain pressure envisaged, following Chinese Export ban

·    Rockfire potentially hosts substantial amounts of Germanium at its
Flagship asset, Molai, Greece

 

Rockfire Resources plc (LON: ROCK), the base metal, precious metal, and
critical mineral exploration company, wishes to inform the market that on
3(rd) December 2024, China officially banned all exports of the geologically
rare mineral, Germanium to the United States of America.
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/china-bans-exports-gallium-germanium-antimony-us-2024-12-03/
(https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/china-bans-exports-gallium-germanium-antimony-us-2024-12-03/)

 

This could have highly significant positive consequences for the Company's
100%-owned Molaoi zinc project in Greece, which hosts germanium as a
potentially valuable by-product from any future production.

 

Germanium is listed on both the US and the EU critical mineral lists. Rockfire
has 1.09 million tonnes of zinc, 260,000 tonnes of lead, 19.1 million ounces
of silver and germanium as a by-product at Molaoi. An internal,
non-code-compliant assessment of germanium by-product is approximately 4.8
million tonnes, with an expected average grade of 21.9g/t Ge. Metallurgical
tests demonstrate that grades of 117g/t Ge report to a zinc concentrate
(Further details can be found in Rockfire's resource upgrade in the RNS dated
4(th) September 2024).

 

The Company's assessment of germanium content is not compliant yet with
reporting codes, as more sampling is required to establish a critical mass of
data points. Core drilled at Molaoi before the year 2021 was not analysed for
germanium and therefore cannot be included in our current resource estimates.
Germanium is expected to feed into future resource upgrades.

 

Germanium is incorporated into the glass components of important military
applications, including long range weapons sighting scopes, infrared
heat-seeking missile guidance systems and infrared night vision goggles.

 

Germanium also contributes to electronic computer/phone chips which are
smaller in size, produce less electronic noise and are more stable over a
wider range of temperatures and ultra-high frequencies.

 

Molaoi is a developing project to help Europe meet its ambitions for a
domestic supply of critical raw materials, including the geologically rare
mineral, germanium.

 

David Price, Chief Executive Officer of Rockfire, commented:

"This is huge news for Rockfire and the Molaoi project in Greece. With the
banning of exports of germanium from China, this is likely to put drastic
pressure on supply chains globally. Up until a few days ago, China supplied
more than 60% of the world's germanium raw product. This ban may well impact
prices, potentially increasing the price of germanium well beyond its current
price of US$ 4,073/kg (US$ 4.06 million/tonne)."

 

For further information on the Company, please
visit www.rockfireresources.com (http://www.rockfireresources.com/)  or
contact the following:

 

 Rockfire Resources plc:                                       info@rockfire.co.uk (mailto:info@rockfire.co.uk)
 David Price, Chief Executive Officer

 Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser & Broker):         Tel: +44 (0) 20 3328 5656
 John Depasquale / George Payne (Corporate Finance)
 Guy McDougall / Kelly Gardiner (Sales and Corporate Broking)

 

 

Notes to Editors

 

Rockfire Resources plc (LON: ROCK) is a gold, base metal and critical mineral
exploration company, with a high-grade zinc/lead/silver/germanium deposit in
Greece and a portfolio of gold/copper/silver projects in Queensland Australia.

 

The Molaoi deposit in Greece has a JORC Inferred Mineral Resource of 15
million tonnes @ 7.26 % Zn, 1.75 % Pb and 39.5 g/t Ag, for 1.09 million tonnes
of zinc, 260,000 tonnes of lead and 19.1 million ounces of silver.

 

The Plateau deposit in Queensland has a JORC Inferred resource of 131,000
ounces of gold and 800,000 ounces of silver. Plateau is subject to a joint
venture with ASX-listed Sunshine Metals Ltd (ASX:SHN).

 

The Copperhead porphyry deposit in Queensland has a JORC resource of 80,000
tonnes of copper, 9,400 tonnes of molybdenum and 1.1 million ounces of silver.

 

Glossary

 

 Item                                                                           Definition
 '' Ag''                                                                        silver
 ''Ga''                                                                         gallium
 '' Ge''                                                                        germanium
 '' g/t''                                                                       grams per tonne
 ''JORC''                                                                       Joint Ore Resource Committee
 '' Pb''                                                                        lead
 "Ppm"                                                                          parts per million
 ''' Zn''                                                                       zinc
 "ZnEq''                                                                        zinc equivalent

 

 

Qualified Person Statement

 

The technical information in this announcement is based on information
compiled by Mr David Price, the Chief Executive Officer of Rockfire Resources
plc, who is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
(F.AusIMM). Mr Price has sufficient experience relevant to the style of
mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity
which has been undertaken to qualify as a "Qualified Person" in accordance
with the AIM Rules Guidance Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies. Mr
Price consents to the inclusion in the announcement of the matters based on
their information in the form and context in which it appears.

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  MSCMZMGZZDMGDZM