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.

20 August 2024

Rome Resources Plc

("Rome" or the "Company")

Drilling Intersects Tin Mineralisation

Rome Resources Plc (AIM: RMR) is pleased to provide an update on diamond core drilling operations 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" (the "Project").

Highlights

·      Drillhole KBDD005 was drilled down to a depth of 164.5m at the Kalayi Prospect.

·      The mineralised zone was intersected roughly 60m below the KBDD003 drillhole from Rome's 2023 drilling campaign which had reported 12.5m at 1.03% Sn including 1m at 2.78% Sn and 1m at 7.12% Sn.

·      Visible coarse grained cassiterite (tin mineral) in KBDD005 was intersected in 3 narrow zones associated with quartz veining and silica flooding at 88.5m, 114m and 125m.

·      Mobilisation of the second and third drill rigs to site will be completed during this week. 

The presence of cassiterite (tin mineral) was confirmed from the Niton XRF analyses.  Strong chlorite alteration (as shown in Figure 1) together with shearing and quartz veining was noted throughout a 30m interval from 84 to 114m.  This has the potential to host fine grained disseminated cassiterite, which will be assessed in the quantitative analyses to be conducted by the laboratory. Chlorite alteration is strongly associated with tin mineralisation at both Alphamin's Mpama North and South deposits indicating a similar style of mineralisation at Kalayi.   

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

"We are delighted to see visible tin mineralisation in several intervals in the first hole of this drilling campaign and look forward to reporting assays as soon as they become available.  We are also pleased to be mobilising additional drilling units to site to maintain an aggressive drilling campaign over the coming weeks and months."

Figure 1: Drill core at the Kalayi Prospect (88.4m) showing strong chlorite alteration (green) and coarse grained cassiterite (red-brown mineral inside the orange ellipses).

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 ([email protected])

Henry Clarke, Head of Sales ([email protected])

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.