Royal Road Minerals and MSB Holdings Granted Preferred Bidder Status for the Jabal Sahabiyah Exploration License; Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Royal Road Minerals and MSB Holdings
Granted Preferred Bidder Status for the Jabal
Sahabiyah Exploration License; Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 15, 2024) - Royal Road Minerals Limited (
TSXV: RYR
)
("
Royal Road
" or the "
Company
") and MSB Holdings Limited ("
MSB
") are pleased to announce that
they have been awarded Preferred Bidder status in a competitive Licensing Round for the Jabal
Sahabiyah Exploration License which is located in Asir Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The Licensing Round was announced by the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources ("
MIMR
") in
early 2023 with a site-visit to be concluded and proposals to be submitted by August of that year.
Submissions were appraised on merit and required the Preferred Bidder to demonstrate skill-relevant
and suitably qualified management and technical personnel, access to sufficient resources and to prove
high-level performance and a commitment to the principles of sustainability. Specific assessment criteria
included such aspects as proposed exploration work program, exploration spend, technical expertise
and social impact management plan. The Jabal Sahabiyah Exploration License will be granted to Royal
Road Arabia ("
RRA
"), Royal Road and MSB's 50-50 joint-venture vehicle (see Press Release August
24, 2023), subject to the payment of a performance financial guarantee (to be agreed with MIMR) and
the satisfaction of certain legal and regulatory requirements. The license will have an initial term of 5
years, with an option to renew every further 5 years for a total of 15 years. RRA has committed to
minimum expenditure of ($USD) 5,500,000 (20.65 million Saudi Riyal), over the first 5 years.
Expenditure is success dependent subject to surrender of the performance guarantee.
The Jabal Sahabiyah Exploration License is approximately 284km
2
in area and was discovered as a
result of regional mapping by Riofinex Ltd in the late 1970's. The prospect is located in the highly
prospective Nabitah-Tathlith belt (see Figure 1) and consists of copper-zinc-lead mineralized gossans
and vein-gold occurrences hosted in greenschist and amphibolite facies meta-sedimentary and
granitoid rocks. Twenty shallow percussion drill holes (totaling 617.5 m) were drilled into one of the
gossan occurrences by Riofinex Ltd with best results including drillhole JM4; 14m at 0.6% Copper and
5.1% Zinc from surface and drillhole JM3; 6.5m @ 0.9% Copper, and 0.6% Zinc from surface.
Figure 1
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Dr Tim Coughlin, Royal Road's President and CEO stated: "We are grateful to the MIMR for granting us
this opportunity at Jabal Sahabiyah and we are eager to get started. Over forty years have lapsed since
exploration work was conducted at the prospect area and ore deposit studies, surface and subsurface
exploration techniques have advanced significantly over that period. We will be deploying our own drone-
borne hyper-spectral scanner, gamma ray spectrometer and magnetometer and expect to have teams
on the ground, mapping and sampling at Jabal Sahabiyah imminently. Our efforts at the prospect-scale
will not detract from ongoing target generation and reconnaissance exploration activities which we are
conducting at-pace and intensity, country-wide, across Saudi Arabia. These operations have already
resulted in the identification of new prospect areas and the submission of promising exploration license
applications. Saudi Arabia is promoting an exciting new vision for mining and exploration, and we are
proud to play an integral part in this truly transformational process."
Mr. Tareq Telmesani, CEO of MSB Holdings Group and Chairman of Royal Road Arabia stated, "This is
a fantastic moment for Royal Road Arabia, and we are excited to begin exploration at Jabal Sahabiyah.
Our team have been working hard to bring this opportunity to fruition, and we are grateful to the MIMR for
their recognition of our capabilities and expertise. Saudi Arabia's vision for the mining sector is world-
leading, and it is an honor for our organization to be at the forefront of mineral exploration at this exciting
time. We believe this will be the first of many opportunities for Royal Road Arabia, and we will continue to
strive to utilize all of our resources and expertise to ensure we are an integral part of the mining sector in
the Kingdom."
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the
policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this
release.
Cautionary statement:
This news release contains certain statements that constitute forward-looking information and forward-
looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking
statements") describing the Company's future plans and the expectations of its management that a
stated result or condition will occur. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown
risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements
of the Company, or developments in the Company's business or in the mineral resources industry, to
differ materially from the anticipated results, performance, achievements or developments expressed
or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include all disclosure
regarding possible events, conditions or results of operations that is based on assumptions about,
among other things, the Alliance, the intention to form a joint venture, enter into a related agreement
and establish Newco and, more generally, future economic conditions and courses of action, and
assumptions related to government approvals, and anticipated costs and expenditures. The words
"plans", "prospective", "expect", "intend", "intends to" and similar expressions identify forward looking
statements, which may also include, without limitation, any statement relating to future events,
conditions or circumstances. Forward-looking statements of the Company contained in this news
release, which may prove to be incorrect, include, but are not limited to the Company's exploration
plans.
The Company cautions you not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements,
which speak only as of the date they are made. There is no guarantee that the anticipated benefits of
the Company's business plans or operations will be achieved. The risks and uncertainties that may
affect forward-looking statements include, among others: economic market conditions, anticipated
costs and expenditures, government approvals, and other risks detailed from time to time in the
Company's filings with Canadian provincial securities regulators or other applicable regulatory
authorities. Forward-looking statements included herein are based on the current plans, estimates,
projections, beliefs and opinions of the Company management and the Company does not undertake
any obligation to update forward-looking statements should assumptions related to these plans,
estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions change.
For further information please contact:
Tim Coughlin
Phone: +44 (0)1534 887166
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