TIDMRRR

RNS Number : 6841A

Red Rock Resources plc

24 January 2024

Red Rock Resources PLC

("Red Rock" or the "Company")

Central and West African Assets

24 January 2024

Red Rock Resources Plc, ("Red Rock" or "the Company"), is a natural resource development company with interests in gold, copper, cobalt, lithium and other minerals principally in Africa and Australia.

This release is an update in relation to the Company's assets in Central and Western Africa.

Highlights :

o Further news on the Company's arbitration award expected following the conclusion of elections in DRC

o Contract renewal at Bilbale (Au) and license renewal at Boulon (Au) in Burkina Faso

o Geochemical testing of Bilbale license and mapping of key zones has begun, with a view to semi-mechanised mining of alluvial areas and follow up drilling of hard rock targets

o Promising rock chip results from mapped areas at Bilbale, including 14.7 g/t and 11.2 g/t Au

o Development team arriving on site in Bilbale

o Recent grant of a second license in the group of four Au applications around Yamoussoukro creates critical mass for development/joint venture in Côte d'Ivoire

o Approaches by third parties in relation to Cote d'Ivoire licenses

Flexible response in Zimbabwe to volatility in lithium price and pre-holiday destocking in China, with first delivery to arrive at destination port at a date to be determined after the Chinese New Year holidays, but no earlier than end-February Red Rock Chairman Andrew Bell comments : "We have made significant advances with grant or renewal now achieved at three gold licenses in West Africa, so that we currently have four licenses active, all of which are seen by us as of very high prospectivity.

Activity to begin gold production has begun at Bilbale in Burkina Faso, guided by our local staff and a team of experts from South Africa, Zimbabwe and India.

In DRC, we are continuing to work to press for the release of the arbitration award, now that the election is over. We believe that the conclusion of this lengthy process is now near.

Award of the first two licenses in Côte d'Ivoire has also taken up to two years, but our patience and persistence have been crowned with success there, as we continue to believe they will be in DRC . We are working actively on crystallising immediate added value to Red Rock in these licenses.

In Zimbabwe, our primary emphasis on trading to the end of the rainy season or later was a strategy designed to control risk and enable flexible and opportunistic response to price volatility. We do not believe lithium prices, currently below $1000/t CIF China for all grades of ore (before discounts and commissions), are likely to rise in the near future, but as we are able to take advantage of this environment, we are unconcerned and can focus on medium-term growth prospects. Deliveries into China will provisionally be timed for late February or March, not in the expectation of a sharp price rise, but because delivery before then is likely to involve demurrage (storage costs) and/or discounts due to the lack of demand as China goes into the Chinese New Year period with high stocks of both electric cars and lithium.

Gold should therefore be a better driver of cash flow progress in the near term, and fortunately we are well-positioned with gold projects in this region capable of near-term production.

The prospectivity of our licenses in Côte d'Ivoire is evidenced by the third party interest we are beginning to attract from potential buyers and partners. We plan a management visit to Yamoussoukro in mid-February."

 
 PROJECT                                 2024 UPDATE 
 
   Litigation and Arbitration - DRC        The Company's 100% owned subsidiary 
                                           in the DRC obtained in 2022 an executory 
                                           judgment for $2.5m (being 50.1% of 
                                           $5m paid to local partner by a buyer). 
 
                                           Arbitration hearings and negotiations 
                                           have been held in Kinshasa in order 
                                           to obtain 50.1% of the $15m still 
                                           to be paid. 
 
                                           A draft of the arbitration award has 
                                           been received and awaits signature 
                                           and release. This process was delayed 
                                           during the election period which has 
                                           now concluded with the re-election 
                                           of President Felix Tshisekedi. 
 
                                           An update will be provided as soon 
                                           as possible. 
                                        ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 
   Faso Minerals Ltd                       Faso Minerals Ltd (FML), through its 
                                           subsidiary Faso Greenstone Resources 
   Gold: Boromo and Banfora greenstone     SARL, holds 348 sq km of highly prospective 
   belts, SW Burkina Faso                  ground, acquired from local holders 
                                           in the SW of Burkina Faso at Bilbale 
                                           and Boulon. 
 
                                           Applications for other areas have 
                                           been prepared. 
 
                                           A 778m Reverse Circulation drill programme 
                                           was carried out at Djikologo and the 
                                           Bilbale Artisanal Area at Bilbale. 
 
                                           Results announced showed gold intersections 
                                           in three of the four holes drilled 
                                           in the first target, with three relatively 
                                           high-grade intersections in the BilR22-03 
                                           drillhole, including 20m at 3.19 g/t 
                                           gold from 22m depth. 
 
                                           Gold mineralisation was intersected 
                                           in two of the three holes at the Bilbale 
                                           Artisanal Area. 
 
                                           Current work includes detailed mapping 
                                           of three out of ten identified target 
                                           areas at Bilbale. The areas mapped 
                                           total some 6 sq km (Djikologo, Koulagang 
                                           and Tampoa), and 22 rock chip samples 
                                           have now been taken at the first two 
                                           of these, where outcrop was found. 
                                           12 of these samples contained gold 
                                           (over 0.1 g/t) and the best 4 returned 
                                           laboratory results at 2.49 g/t, 3.25 
                                           g/t, 11.2 g/t and 14.7 g/t. 
 
                                           A team assembled by our associate 
                                           Mahendran Samuel is preparing to arrive 
                                           on site over the next two weeks to 
                                           start implementation of a scalable 
                                           trial mining programme of alluvial 
                                           gold-bearing material. A ball mill 
                                           has been ordered, and an auger drill 
                                           and other mining plant will follow, 
                                           and their delivery will determine 
                                           the start date of operations. 
                                        ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 
   LacGold Minerals Ltd                                    LacGold Minerals Ltd (LGM), through 
                                                          its 100% subsidiary LacGold Resources 
   Gold: greenstone belts in Côte                     SARLU, made initial applications for 
   d'Ivoire                                               five prospective areas, screened from 
                                                            a long list, for gold exploration. 
   Subsidiary                                               Signed Décrets have now been 
                                                         issued granting the first two, totalling 
                                                            745.67 sq km after adjustments, at 
                                                                Yamoussoukro and Djekanou. 
 
                                                           Official site inspection visits have 
                                                       been conducted to the next four applications 
                                                           by the Mining Department, and these 
                                                            are in progress: Tienko, Korhogo, 
                                                            Molonou and Kokoumbo. With Molonou 
                                                           and Kokoumbo, the Company took over 
                                                         existing interests of high prospectivity 
                                                       near or adjoining the city of Yamoussoukro. 
 
                                           http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/6841A_1-2024-1-23.pdf 
                                                           Fig 1: licenses around Yamoussoukro 
 
                                                         Two stages of sampling have been carried 
                                                           out in accessible areas along strike 
                                                        from known occurrences at the Yamoussoukro 
                                                            and Djekanou licenses. An initial 
                                                          rock chip sampling programme produced 
                                                            50 samples, tested by bottle roll 
                                                       test and by Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. 
                                                       Results include 54.25 g/t Au at Yamoussoukro 
                                                           and 5.93 g/t, 2.65 g/t, 2.24 g/t and 
                                                            1.16 g/t at Djekanou. The samples 
                                                          from Djekanou are located in the north 
                                                            of the Djekanou permit on sites of 
                                                         semi-industrial activities. The samples 
                                                            come from N-S oriented structures 
                                                            which crossed the Djekanou permit 
                                                         and the artisanal mining authorization. 
 
                                                           These zones were later confirmed as 
                                                               anomalous by soil sampling. 
 
 
                                           http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/6841A_2-2024-1-23.pdf 
                                                             Fig 2: Yamoussoukro: rock chips 
 
 
                                           http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/6841A_3-2024-1-23.pdf 
 
                                                               Fig 3: Djekanou: rock chips 
 
                                                          The proximity to a number of important 
                                                         existing mines and works on neighbouring 
                                                         licenses held by Koulou Gold (to North) 
                                                          and Kobo Resources (to South) provide 
                                                          additional evidence of prospectivity. 
                                                            A further 80 termite mound samples 
                                                          and 38 rock chip samples have recently 
                                                        been collected and results await testing. 
 
                                                         The Company has received two approaches 
                                                          for sale or co-operation and has more 
                                                         general discussions with other companies 
                                                           active in the area. One company will 
                                                         be conducting some sampling and mapping 
                                                       at the Yamoussoukro license in mid-February 
                                                           with a view to further co-operation 
                                                                       discussions. 
                                        ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 
   Lithium - Zimbabwe                      RRR, through African Lithium Resources 
                                           (Private) Ltd (ALR), has been in a 
   Lithium: historical pegmatite areas     process with a local partner of assembling 
   in Zimbabwe                             a lithium portfolio by purchase of 
                                           old mining areas and by pegging of 
   c.50% owned                             prospective areas with evidence of 
                                           good grade lithium mineralisation. 
 
                                           Sampling has been carried out over 
                                           areas of interest. 
 
                                           ALR has funded development to date 
                                           from its own resources and by raising 
                                           $320,000 of external funding. 
                                           The first location fully permitted 
                                           is ALR's Tin Hill property, 29 km 
                                           North-West of Bikita in South-East 
                                           Zimbabwe. 
                                           During the course of 2023, there were 
                                           a number of regulatory and practise 
                                           changes in Zimbabwe to which RRR has 
                                           adapted. 
                                           RRR has begun exports of 3% plus lithium 
                                           ore and has a further stockpile of 
                                           royalty-paid material ready for export. 
                                           To avoid storage and demurrage charges 
                                           at a time when destocking is occurring 
                                           in advance of the Chinese holidays 
                                           and demand is absent, RRR plans to 
                                           delay arrival of material at destination 
                                           port to sometime after the Chinese 
                                           New Year when demand resumes. 
                                        ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 
   Elephant Oil Corporation                RRR has c397,873 shares in Elephant 
                                           Oil Corporation, where a Form S-1/A 
                                           and a presentation have been filed 
                                           and are kept updated on the EDGAR 
                                           website of the Securities and Exchange 
                                           Commission under the stock code ELEP. 
                                           The intention of Elephant continues 
                                           to be to list on a North American 
                                           Exchange. It had been expected that 
                                           this would have taken place early 
                                           in 2023, but clearly the process is 
                                           taking longer and RRR will report 
                                           further when it has further news. 
                                        ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 
   Royalties                               Royalties are held over the Zimbabwean, 
                                           Ivory Coast, and Burkina Faso assets. 
                                        ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

For further information, please contact:

Andrew Bell 0207 747 9990 Chairman Red Rock Resources Plc

   Roland Cornish/ Rosalind Hill Abrahams 0207 628 3396           NOMAD Beaumont Cornish Limited 

Bob Roberts 0203 8696081 Broker Clear Capital Corporate Broking

The technical information in this announcement has been compiled by the Company's consultants in Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso, and by Mr Ali Barro in London. M. Koffi Gbamele, who approves this release, is a Member of the E-SGA and an Associate of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) and is a member of a recognised professional organisation and has sufficient relevant experience to qualify as a qualified person as defined in the Guidance Note for Mining, Oil and Gas Companies published by AIM.

Beaumont Cornish Limited ("Beaumont Cornish") is the Company's Nominated Adviser and is authorised and regulated by the FCA. Beaumont Cornish's responsibilities as the Company's Nominated Adviser, including a responsibility to advise and guide the Company on its responsibilities under the AIM Rules for Companies and AIM Rules for Nominated Advisers, are owed solely to the London Stock Exchange. Beaumont Cornish is not acting for and will not be responsible to any other persons for providing protections afforded to customers of Beaumont Cornish nor for advising them in relation to the proposed arrangements described in this announcement or any matter referred to in it.

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January 24, 2024 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)

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