Rome Resources excited by tin discovery
Rome Resources Ltd., a Canadian mineral exploration company, has announced the discovery of a substantial tin deposit at its Bisie North Tin Project in the Walikale Territory of the North Kivu Province, located in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The firm’s preliminary assay results, derived from the first four drill holes at the Mont Agoma Prospect (situated along strike from the Mpama North and South deposits), aimed to examine mineralisation southeast of a major sulphide deposit, intersecting numerous tin-rich zones. The results suggest that these tin-bearing zones increase in grade (ranging from 11.25m at 0.51% Sn to 1m at 1.3% Sn) and size at deeper levels and extend south-eastwards where high-grade soil anomalies were identified.
Rome Resource’s CEO and President, Mark Gasson, expressed his excitement over discovering a system of this scale. He noted that their understanding of the tin zone’s distribution will enable them to ‘be more precise’ in devising future drilling programmes. To date, Rome resources has tested only a quarter of the potential 1.2km strike length identified from the high-grade tin soil anomaly. Furthermore, the company has initiated a four-hole drilling programme at the nearby Kalayi Prospect to assess the tin mineral potential underneath small-scale artisanal mines, where local miners have discovered 1m at 11% Sn.
The company’s discovery of multiple new tin-rich zones is exciting. Furthermore, they will be buoyed by the recent announcement regarding the company entering a binding term sheet to acquire an additional 15% stake in the Bisie North Tin Project. Undoubtedly, these promising results will motivate the company to further explore the extent of the tin deposits in future drill progammes.
The LME tin price has corrected towards $25,000/tonne following a peak at $27,125 amid news of Myanmar’s mining suspension from August 1st. Despite base metals’ price downtrend, driven by bearish macroeconomic sentiment, the LME tin market has increasing backwardation and persistently net long investment fund speculative positions. Better news on Chinese tin demand and a continued feedstock squeeze there may have triggered surging open interest and trading volumes on the SHFE, with recent sharp backwardation. The stage seems set for more volatility ahead.
