Rome Resources (RMR ) is to acquire working interests in early-stage exploration licences across 109 square kilometres of mining claims in the Canadian Province of New Brunswick, close to the Mount Pleasant deposit, which hosts the Three Lakes and Schoullar Mountain projects.
The acreage lies only 40km from the important deepwater port of St. John, New Brunswick.
Tin showings in one area of the claims, Three Lakes, have been assayed at up to 1.4% tin from surface sampling.
Exploration will take the form of further surface sampling, geophysical surveys and core drilling.
The exercise of the option will be conditional on Rome Resources paying a modest and strategically structured total consideration of C$300,000, comprising a total of C$250,000 in shares and C$50,000 in cash, to be paid over the four years.
The vendors will retain a royalty of 3% of the Net Smelter Return.
Rome will have the right of first refusal to purchase 50% of the vendors' retained royalty on the NSR for C$1.5 million.
"This proposed strategic entry into Canada and the Appalachian Devonian tin granite plays provides us with low-cost access to a highly prospective region which exhibits strong tin and other critical metal mineralisation in a mining-friendly Tier 1 jurisdiction,” said Paul Barrett, chief executive of Rome Resources.
“The Three Lakes area is a late-phase tin granite-sourced prospect, similar to our Bisie North tin play in the DRC, but with additional tungsten, bismuth and indium potential. Importantly, this opportunity complements Bisie North, not only in the commodities it offers but also in timing. Planning of the work programme can take place while we await the assays from Bisie North which will feed into the updated mineral resource estimate for Kalayi, allowing for progress at both projects in parallel. This approach allows us to maintain focus on our core project in DRC while positioning Rome for proposed long-term growth through diversification."
View from Vox
Rome’s shares rose by just under 2% on the news, probably an indication in current market conditions that investors are appreciative that Rome is keeping active and creative. After all, the outlay for this transaction is very modest, and the potential upside significant – this is bread and butter for a junior exploration company like Rome.