10 Reasons to buy Rome Resources...
...before the assays start rolling in.
Good Afternoon Team and welcome to Tuesday.
Today, I want to really nail down why Rome Resources deserves a spot in your portfolio before all the action starts.
The company launched its RTO back in July at 0.3p per share - and despite some wobbling, is now trading at around the same level.
I think it’s perfectly possible that Rome could rise to circa 1p by the end of the calendar year (or soon thereafter). And while nothing is ever guaranteed in exploration, anyone with a reasonable appetite for risk should at the very least have the company on their watchlist.
Let’s dive in.
10 Reasons to Buy Rome
I’m sure you can think of more.
Rome raised £4 million in July, leaving it fully cashed up for exploration for the foreseeable future. In a world of deep discounts, this is a huge positive - the current drilling programme should cost less than half of this amount when completed (choppers are expensive), but this leaves a solid cash runway for future exploration.
Flagship asset Bisie North, a highly anomalous five-kilometre-long tin in soil anomaly (hosting the Mont Agoma and Kalayi prospects) is just eight kilometres from Alphamin’s world-class Bisie tin mine. Bisie boasts a 4.5% grade, the highest in the world, and is responsible for roughly 7% of global tin production per year. For context, tin mines with a 0.5% grade are operating all over the world.
Rome’s core personnel are all ex-Alphamin. Klaus Eckhof - who is to become Non-Executive Chairman - founded and chaired the CAD$1.6 BILLION company. CEO & President Mark Gasson alongside Exploration Manager Jamie Anderson together made the Bisie discovery. All three have skin in the game, and Eckhof is perhaps the only man in Africa capable of navigating DROC politics (as evidenced by his many in-country wins, including at Randgold and AVZ).
The tin price is soaring as demand continues to rocket and supply remains tight at major producers around the world. I have covered this in depth here, but Rome’s primary metal is likely to remain elevated regardless of wider economic conditions. Bisie North’s Mont Agoma target is also highly prospective for copper among other elements.
Rome is drilling Bisie North with four diamond drill rigs, and a mountain of assays are set to be reported back in a continuous stream starting from next week. The ambition is to have a maiden resource estimate for the asset ready within the next few months - and some analysts consider that Bisie North may even be a larger deposit than Bisie. There is no faffing about with surface exploration - the early stage stuff has been done and dusted.
Rome is not just searching for tin, but also for copper, silver, zinc and gold.
For example, previous assays at Mont Agoma intersected 11.25 meters at 0.51% Sn and include 2.25 meters at 1.06% Sn from 5.75 meters in hole MADD004. But it also found 13.15 metres at 7.8% Cu from 143.85 meters in hole MADD010A.
Silver assays revealed 15.15 metres at 57.74 g/t Ag from 143.85 metres in the same hole, while zinc mineralization showed 160.5 metres at 3.3% Zn, including 90 metres at 4.17% Zn from 77.5 metres in hole MADD002. Rome has repeatedly compared Mont Agoma’s geology to that of the world-famous San Rafael mine in Peru, regarded for its high-grade copper and base metals at surface levels, with tin mineralisation at deeper levels.
At Kalayi, channel sampling in artisanal workings have revealed high-grade tin mineralisation, including up to 1 metre at a sensational 11% Sn.
In hole KBDD003, notable results included 12.5 metres at 1.06% Sn, with intervals of 2.5 metres at 3.39% Sn and 0.5 metres at 11.7% Sn from 41.5 metres. Additionally, this hole recorded 1 metre at 1.11% Sn from 59 meters and 3 metres at 1.92% Sn, including 0.4 metres at 12.85% Sn from 70 meters. Hole KBDD002 also showed promising results, with 0.8 meters at 1.32% Sn from 30.6 metres and 2.5 metres at 2.60% Sn, including 0.5 metres at 7.15% Sn from 79 metres.
Bisie North gives investors two bites at the apple: Kalayi is pure-play tin analogous to Alphamin’s Mpama mineralisation, while Mont Agoma is a polymetallic deposit along the lines of San Rafael. Success at either will see a dramatic share price increase.
I’ve been updating on Rome on this Substack since the launch, and today’s update has also been excellent. Current drilling shows:
MADD016: Terminated early due to stuck rods at 46 metres but entered the tin zone. Completed.
MADD016A: Successfully redrilled to 242.5m; encountering a 67m wide tin, copper and zinc zone between at 47m and 113m. Copper mineralisation was present in discrete intervals within this tin-polymetallic zone and additionally in several intervals below the tin zone to 220m. Completed.
MADD017: Drilling at 143m depth currently in the tin, copper and zinc zone, have encountered several tin-bearing intervals with a concentration of cassiterite (tin) veins between 117m and 140m. A notable copper zone was encountered between 98m and 113m. Still ongoing.
MADD018 is drilling above the anticipated mineralised zone at 27m. Still ongoing.
Samples have been flown to ALS in Johannesburg - and the company notes that ‘drill site core assessments are highly promising.’ For context, promising tin, copper and zinc indications have been identified in MADD016A and MADD017. And indications are there that ‘there is a significant increase in widths of tin mineralisation in the southeasternmost holes along strike and at depth.’
Kalayi drilling is ongoing with another RNS to come shortly.
Perhaps most importantly, CEO Paul Barrett once again noted ‘The directors of Rome Resources believe that the strong association of tin and copper mineralisation further supports our analogy with San Rafael in Peru which commenced operations as a copper mine before passing through a transition zone of tin and copper. We see ourselves within a similar transition zone and given the extent of the broad zone of sulphide mineralisation, believe we have significant discovery potential.’
Alphamin’s mine is hungry for ore and given the adjacent location and close management ties with Rome, there is a natural buyer for these assets as soon as they are proven up. If not, Bisie North could well be large enough to merit its own operation - and given the wider tin economics, there will be no shortage of suitors.
You can’t ask for more.