Commencement of Drilling at the Kalayi Prospect

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Regulation 11 of the Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019/310. With the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

5 August 2024

Rome Resources Plc

("Rome" or the "Company")

Commencement of Drilling at the Kalayi Prospect, Bisie North Project

Rome Resources Plc (AIM: RMR) has commenced drilling on its Kalayi prospect ("Kalayi") located in the North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (the "DRC") which, together with the Mont Agoma prospect and the Mont Agoma Northwest prospect, comprise the "Bisie North Projects".

In line with the Company's announcement on 30 July 2024, Mole Drilling Congo SARLU have now completed their site establishment, local staff orientation and have commenced drilling at the first diamond core drill hole at Kalayi. Two additional diamond core drill rigs will now be mobilised to additional identified drill sites, one at Kalayi and one at Mont Agoma where drilling is expected to commence within the next two weeks.

The drilling programme will be fine-tuned as results are received and is expected to complete early in the fourth quarter of 2024 with all results and a potential mineral resource estimate reported before year end.   

Drilling Programme at Kalayi

The initial planned resource drilling programme at Kalayi is comprised of up to 12 diamond core drill holes which will test mineralisation at two levels roughly 50m apart over 700m of the core high grade tin in soil anomaly (>80ppm Sn) at Kalayi. Two holes will be drilled on each section spaced roughly 100m apart. Drilling is expected to define tin mineralisation down to depths exceeding 100m below surface.

An initial 4 drill holes were completed previously at Kalayi where significant tin mineralisation intersected two holes and included:

KBDD002:        2.5 m at 2.6% Sn from 79.0m including 1m at 4.68% Sn from 79m

KBDD003:        12.5 m at 1.05% Sn from 40.5m including 1m at 7.21% Sn from 51.5m

KBDD003:        3.0 m at 1.92% Sn from 70.0m

The first hole is targeting the tin zone 50m below the high grade intercept in KBDD003. All completed and planned drill holes are shown in Figure 1 (below).

Figure 1: Kalayi tin in soil anomaly, significant drillhole intersections and current and planned drill holes (plan view). Note the central high grade tin in soil anomaly (>81ppm Sn) which covers 700m of the 2km tin anomaly.

A narrow cassiterite vein, confirmed by hand-held X-Ray Fluorescence ("XRF") analyser, was exposed during pad clearing of the first drill pad of this campaign (KBPC003) confirming mineralisation is open to the northwest.

Paul Barrett, Chief Executive Officer of Rome Resources Plc, commented:

"We are extremely pleased to have reached this milestone so soon after admission, demonstrating the Rome team's ability to execute operations in the DRC.  The Kalayi prospect has already yielded grades of up to 7.2% tin in previous shallow drilling and has striking similarities with Alphamin's nearby Mpama South Mine, where tin grades increase with depth. We look forward to regularly updating the market as this work progresses."

For further information please contact:

Rome Resources Plc

Mark Gasson, Executive Chairman

Paul Barrett, Chief Executive Officer

Tel. +44 (0)20 3143 6748

Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)

John Depasquale / Vivek Bhardwaj / Lauren Wright (Corporate Finance)

Stefano Aquilino / Joscelin Pinnington (Sales & Corporate Broking)

Tel. +44 (0)20 3328 5656

OAK Securities (Joint Broker)

Jerry Keen, Head of Corporate Broking (jerry.keen@oak-securities.com)

Henry Clarke, Head of Sales (henry.clarke@oak-securities.com)

Tel. +44 (0)20 3973 3678

Camarco (Financial PR)

Gordon Poole / Emily Hall / Sam Morris

Tel. +44 (0) 20 3757 4980

OAK Securities is a trading name of Merlin Partners LLP. Merlin Partners LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Reference Number: 449191). Merlin Partners LLP is registered in England and Wales (Registered Partnership Number: OC317265).

Qualified Person Statement

Dr Deon Vermaakt is a consultant of Rome Resources plc, a qualified geologist and a registered Professional Natural Scientist (Geological Science) with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP Reg. No. 400074/03). Dr Vermaakt is a qualified person (QP) under NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information contained in this news release.

Glossary 

Note to Editors

Bisie North Project

Rome currently holds a circa 51% beneficial interests in two exploration permits, Permis d'Exploitation des Petites Mines PEPM13274 (a small scale mining permit converted from PR13274) and Permis de Recherches PR15130 (exploration permit) which together cover a rectangular area of 38.43 km². The project lies immediately north of Alphamin Resource Corporation's Mpama North mine, which is the world's highest-grade tin mine, currently producing mined material (run of mine) at an average grade of approximately 4.5% Sn and accounting for 3% of the world's tin production (alphaminresources.com, 2024).

Previous exploration on the Bisie North Project included soil sampling with complete coverage of both tenements, a single trench and diamond drilling in 2023. Two tin in soil anomalies were identified, one at Kalayi in and around the artisanal workings and a second at Mont Agoma. At Kalayi, a single line of 4 drillholes was completed, aimed at investigating mineralisation below artisanal workings. Significant tin mineralisation was intersected below the high-grade tin in soil anomaly and artisanal workings. The mineralisation at Kalayi is similar to that at Alphamin's Mpama South, 8km to the southeast, which is predominantly within the deeper tin zone and little base metal mineralisation.

Fifteen diamond drillholes were completed at Mont Agoma where a 250m wide sulphide zone of high grade copper, tin, zinc and silver was identified over 300m of the high grade tin in soil anomaly (>500ppm Sn). Significant widths of tin mineralisation were intersected at depth which supports a mineralisation model similar to that at San Rafael in Peru in which high grade tin mineralisation is expected at deeper levels.