(Alliance News) - Rockfire Resources PLC on Friday said it had entered into a joint venture with Sunshine Gold Ltd at the Plateau gold deposit in Queensland, Australia.

The Greece and Australia-focused gold, base metal and critical mineral exploration company said the joint venture, which includes the Lighthouse tenement and the Kookaburra tenement, aims to test regional targets and discover higher-grade gold.

Sunshine is a Queensland-focused copper and gold project developer.

Rockfire said the joint venture would see Sunshine solely fund the Plateau exploration for three years, as Rockfire turns its focus to the Molaoi zinc deposit in Greece, which has an inferred JORC resource of 2.3 million tonnes at 9.4% zinc, 1.7% lead and 37 grammes of silver per tonne.

"Critical mineral" Germanium has also been identified at Molaoi, associated with zinc, the company noted.

Rockfire has the option to keep 25% ownership in the Plateau project, by contributing 25% to the on-going exploration, or can convert this 25% share to a 1.5% net smelter royalty.

Chief Executive Officer David Price said: "The establishment of this joint venture is a positive step for the Plateau project and for Rockfire generally. The JV enables our team to focus its efforts on the Molaoi project in Greece and allows for the advancement of Plateau at the same time.

"Sunshine is an excellent JV partner, with a proven track record of thorough and sustained drilling. The Sunshine team is experienced and dedicated to discovery and Rockfire's management believes that Plateau is in good hands with Sunshine as a quality partner."

Rockfire shares were up 9.2% trading at 0.19 pence per share on Friday morning in London.

By Harvey Dorset, Alliance News reporter

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