Key Highlights

• High Impact Tin Exploration Investment Opportunity
• Targeting High Grade Tin Within 8KM of Alphamin’s Tin Deposits
• Alphamin’s Tin Deposits Highest Grade, Longest Duration In The World
• Same Team That Discovered Alphamin’s Tin Deposits
• Other High Grade Metals Such As Copper, Silver & Zinc Mineralisation
• Three Rig Diamond-Drill Programme Commencing Imminently
• Limited UK Tin Investment Opportunities

Why Tin?

Tin is perhaps a lesser understood or dare I say glamorous base metal than the likes of Copper, and Nickel etc, but its importance may never have been greater than right now given it’s a critical metal that researchers predict will be the material of choice for the next generation of energy-generating and storage devices whilst also being the ‘glue’ that holds all of these components together.

In fact, renowned Mining Investor Rick Rule describes Tin as ‘the forgotten, energy transition material’ to the effect that he is now a very large shareholder in Alphamin, who operate their mine in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) and where Rome’s prospective projects are within just 8KM of the high grade mine.

In fact, Alphamin themselves describe tin as ‘the metal with which the fourth Industrial Revolution, will be built’

So the experts agree, there is a lot going for tin, but there are limited investment opportunities so on that note, let’s dig into Rome Resources and see what’s on offer!

About Rome Resources

Rome Resources are coming to the UK Market by way of an RTO expected to execute by the end of July., the ticker will be RMR. Their X (Twitter) page is here and worth a follow given the news-flow to come shortly.

The company’s key objective is to achieve further exploration success and define a resource at Bisie North in the DRC which hosts Tin & Copper prospects within 8KM of the worlds highest grade tin mine, that itself is only 18% explored.

What separates Rome from other junior mining companies at this stage is the potential grades and scale they believe they could un-cover. Drilling out and defining another very high grade tin resource (with high-grade copper potential too) would be transformational for an £14m Market Cap company given Alphamin trades in excess of $1bn Market Cap.

What also separates Rome, is the management team. Rome’s exploration and management team are the same team that actually discovered Alphamin’s deposits and have achieved multiple successes already in the DRC.

Management

Mark Gasson, Executive Chairman

Mark has an extensive track record in exploration as a Geologist having served on a number of Mining Companies boards and has been instrumental in a number of exploration discoveries in the DRC including that of Alphamin’s.

Klaus Eckhof, Strategic Advisor

Klaus is a geologist with more than 30 years experience identifying, exploring and developing mineral deposits around the world. Klaus also has extensive experience of the DRC where he founded, in late 2003, Moto Goldmines, which acquired the Moto Gold Project in the DRC. Moto Goldmines was subsequently acquired by Randgold Resources for $488m!.

Klaus was also instrumental, like Mark in, facilitating the acquisition of the Bisie Tin Project in the DRC by Alphamin Resources, now the highest grade producing tin mine in the world with Alphamin capped at over $1bn.

Jamie Anderson, Exploration Manager

Jamie is the company’s Exploration Manager and has 15 years of experience in the DRC. Jamie started the Bisie Tin project as Exploration Manager with Alphamin in 2012 and defined a +200k tonne high grade tin resource. He was part of the team that took the project through to construction phase and managed the exploration when Alphamin recommenced drilling at their Mpama South Project at Bisie in 2020.

So with a highly credible and successful team involved, lets discuss the projects…

Rome have identified two significant tin anomalies over 5KM as follows:

Kalayi Prospect

A 2,000m tin in soil anomaly was found at the Kalayi Prospect – up to 1m at 11% Sn from channel sampling in artisanal workings

A previous 4 hole drill programme confirmed a significant tin discovery at Kalayi with assay results as follows:

The initial drilling tested 150m of the 2,000m anomaly. There was no Cu or Zn mineralisation present here so Kalayi is seen currently as a pure tin play.

The company will therefore perform an ‘in-fill’ drill programme on the prospect further along strike and depth as part of their work to generate an inferred resource.

Mont Agoma Prospect

A larger drill programme at Mont Agoma involved a 15 diamond hole drill programme testing 300m on strike. Within this drill programme, a significant sulphide mineralised system was defined over a width of 200-250m.

Notably, tin mineralisation was identified in all holes with high grade copper and zinc also present.

The assay results showed that high grade polymetallic mineralisation is evident at upper levels with high-grade tin mineralisation expected at lower levels and open in all directions. This geology closely mimics that of San Rafael in Peru, the third largest tin mine in the world currently producing 12% of the worlds tin.

As with Kalayi, the company will run a a new drill programme at Mont Agoma but in this case looking at a deeper drill programme to target the tin at depth that will also feed into an overall inferred resource.

High Impact Drill Programmes

With funds raised, the company will have more than enough cash to execute two tandem high-impact drill programmes that should see three or four diamond drill rigs in action, one performing in-fill drilling and the other targeting tin at depth along strike.

Results should start coming thick and fast as the nature of the prospects and drilling means that the company should be able to quickly identify likely grades from on-going assays which once the drilling campaign is complete later in the year, will allow the company to generate an inferred resource.

Given the location, initial results to date, subsequent confirmation of a high-grade tin resource with scale, the project should attract a lot of attention whereby there will be options on the table such as disposal or strategic development partnerships (which Klaus has mentioned), all that would materially have a positive effect on the Market Cap!

Tin Market, the forgotten battery metal?

You may be surprised to learn that tin already plays a role in battery technology but could be set to play an even larger role in future, discussed further on. Tin also fits the ‘green-investing’ narrative well with key applications in renewable energy and carbon-reduction technologies.

Tin – Its key Uses and Drivers

Electronics – Tin plays a major role in electronics and the semi-conductor industry where it’s used in circuit boards (solder) and copper-tin connectors. In the ‘connected’ world and the ‘internet of things’ tin plays a major role as the glue that joins them together.

The digital revolution and the emergence of 5G will propel the development of more and more smart-devices and technology which will in turn drive more usage of tin.

Lead-Acid Batteries – tin is key component in lead-acid batteries in cars, particularly the more powerful ones that utilise start-stop technology.

Until combustion engine cars are completely phased out and off the road this will be another driver for tin.

Other Uses for tin span a multitude of industry and technology including robotics, energy storage, IT and tin plating.

Tin demand has historically increased with various technological advances, 5G being a prime example.

Green Energy and Renewables

Aside of robust fundamentals, tin will play a key role in green energy and renewables.

Solar and Wind – solar cells that uses copper-tin connectors including cell advancements that require more tin to harvest heat energy. Renewable energy infrastructure.

Hydrogen – potential use in hydrogen economy – tin catalysts that split water in sunlight 

Electric Vehicle – charging infrastructure

Lead-free Solder – climate change and regulation driving the increase in lead-free solder thus in turn increasing the usage of tin.

Electric Vehicle Batteries

Tin will benefit from advanced lithium-ion batteries and could have a significant role to play in the next generation of lithium-ion batteries too which have been much discussed recently. In the hunt for higher performance and range, early Chinese prototypes are using Tin/Silicon based anodes. More on this here

It’s early days and development of such batteries will be more costly in the short-term and require a significant up-lift in charging infrastructure and grid power. It’s certainly one to keep an eye on though. Until then, graphite anodes will be the dominant force and you can read about my high-purity battery grade graphite investment play Armadale Capital here.

Basically all of the above make a compelling case for tin’s future and the market seems to be picking up on this given recent price increases seen on the LME

Five-year LME Tin price (price currently around $35k/t)

Fundamentals

Tin is predicted to be the metal most positively impacted by the development of future technologies and the ‘Internet of Things’

The International Tin Association predict that demand for Tin could triple by 2050.

Research by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) projects that tin (relative to market size) could be the metal with most to gain from the various applications shown in the chart above due, in part to its use in soldering.

All in all, it’s creating an interesting supply/demand dynamic that could positively impact upon Tin prices further especially given the market is in a structural supply deficit and the metal is projected to see increasing demand from the above applications.

An Eye on Risk

As with any investment we need to be aware of the risks particularly with small cap companies. Risks to be aware of are as follows:

Geopolitical

The company will be operating in the DRC. The DRC is a considered by many as a higher risk jurisdiction to operate in and has received lots of bad press around the use of child labour. Klaus in a recent interview did point out however that a lot of the ‘bad press’ is associated with Artisanal mining.

In fact Klaus who has been involved in many projects in the DRC says that it has been common place for projects he has been involved in to employ artisanal miners. Alphamin comment on this further and you can read how the region has responded to illicit mining for the better of the country and its sustainability summary here

Liquidity

Lastly, the liquidity of tin, its a less liquid commodity than say nickel or copper and price swings can be greater however the current trend is firmly up with a supply deficit in place and a very positive demand outlook – but one to be aware off as would affect production margins to the downside – equally though would be significant to the upside!

If you are a relative newbie too investing come back here after you have read the note and read my blog on Managing Risk and Exposure

Conclusion

So before I highlight all the fluffy bits and why those invested could be sitting on significant returns we need to be aware that investing in small cap companies in general carries high risk so don’t be throwing the kitchen sink in, manage your risk !

Now back to Rome Resources…

I expect Rome to get a lot of attention on listing, there are not many new projects/companies coming to the market given the current climate however Rome offers early stage exposure to a key commodity that will be in high demand.

Given the projects location in relation to Alphamin and its geology, there is a good chance the company will uncover a sizeable high-grade tin resource with the likes of high-grade copper and zinc thrown in.

The team have done it all before and I’d suspect wouldn’t be moving forwards with the licenses if their experience hadn’t told them what they are likely sitting on! It’s rare that you see such a successful team with pedigree that are starting back close to ground zero where investors like you and I can get in at an early stage.

With three diamond drill rigs in action imminently and possibly an additional one around September, investors can expect regular news flow as assays and results come in. If these are what we hope for then the company should see a re-rate given the possibility of an early disposal or strategic investors coming in given the rarity of high-grade tin deposits globally.

I’ll be keeping you abreast of developments as news starts coming in !