By: Creamer media

The company has reported initial results from three further drill holes.

Most notably, the company says drill hole KBDD033 has delivered the widest tin-bearing intercept encountered at Kalayi to date, with X-ray fluorescence (XRF) indications of 20 m with an average tin content of 1%, including three subintervals totalling 10 m with 1.7% to 2.1% tin content, alongside two additional shallower intercepts.

The company says these results support the company's interpretation that the mineralised system may strengthen and broaden with depth.

Since the last update issued on March 18, the company says three further drill holes have been completed and assessed for mineralisation by a handheld XRF device. 

It notes that drilling at Kalayi continues to demonstrate the presence of high-grade tin mineralisation across multiple holes, supporting the company's structural model.

Initial on-site portable XRF results for Kalayi drill hole KBDD033 indicate 20 m at 1% tin from 144 m – including 3 m at 1.7% tin from 144 m, 3 m at 2.1% tin from 150 m and 4 m at 2% tin from 160 m – plus 3 m at 2.5% tin from 110 m and 3 m at 0.9% tin from 137 m.

Additionally, the company reports results for drill hole KBDD032 of 5 m at 1.8% tin from 113 m, including 2 m at 4.0% tin from 113 m; and for drill hole KBDD031 of 4 m at 1.1% tin from 101 m.

The company describes the results from KBDD033 as particularly encouraging, representing the widest tin-bearing interval intersected to date at Kalayi.

Importantly, it notes that the intercept suggests a potential widening of the mineralised zone at depth, consistent with the company's evolving structural model.

Hole KBDD033 was drilled underneath two previous intercepts in drill holes KBDD020A and KBDD031, both of which indicated high tin grades over narrower widths.

In this context, Rome explains that the broader interval encountered in KBDD033 provides further evidence that the mineralised zone may strengthen at depth.

The company says this style of mineralisation in KBDD033 appears comparable to that observed at Alphamin's Mpama South deposit where tin-bearing zones are known to broaden at depth.

While it remains early, Rome says the Kalayi results continue to support the company's view that the system has the potential to develop into a broader and more laterally continuous mineralised zone.

Drillhole KBDD025, as previously announced, returned an excellent intercept of 11 m at 3.4% tin, and the broader zone now encountered in KBDD033 indicates further potential in a significantly widening mineralised system. 

In order to assess how these zones evolve at depth, a further hole, KBDD034, is being drilled below KBDD033, targeting the continuation of tin mineralisation between about 125 m and 225 m depth. 

As of today's date, KBDD034 has reached a depth of about 100 m.

As the tin-bearing zone(s) have a steep dip to the north-east and the drill holes are inclined at 50° to 90° to the south-west, Rome says the reported intercept widths are not true widths, noting that the true width of an intercept is narrower than the reported width and the difference between them depends on the interpreted dip of the tin-bearing zone and the inclination of the drill hole.

"The tin intercept encountered in drillhole KBDD033 materially strengthens our view of Kalayi's potential to host substantially greater volumes of tin mineralisation at depth than had been indicated by the shallower intercepts. 

“This is a highly encouraging result, both in terms of scale and geometry, and is consistent with the style of mineralisation seen at Alphamin's nearby Mpama mine.

“This will feed into our proposed mineral resource estimate (MRE) update and strengthens our confidence that the proposed MRE update could deliver a meaningful uplift. 

“Importantly, this phase of drilling on Kalayi is concluding with the drilling of a follow-up hole beneath KBDD033 designed to test the continuity of this zone at greater depth and further assess the scale of the opportunity,” says Rome Resources CEO Paul Barrett.