Royal Road Minerals announced that it's 50% owned Saudi Arabian joint-venture company Royal Road Arabia, has been selected as the winning bidder, as part of a competitive Licensing Round, for the Al-Miyah copper and gold tender area. This tender area consists of three contiguous Exploration Licenses, located in the Asir Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 150 kilometers northwest of the Company's Jabal Sahabiyah Exploration Licenses. Royal Road Arabia is a Saudi Arabian joint-venture company owned on a 50-50% partnership basis by Royal Road and MIDU Company Limited.

MIDU is a Saudi Arabian investment holding company, headquartered in Jeddah, with interests across various sectors including mining, industrial, real estate development and utilities. The Al Miyah Exploration Licenses are contiguous and cover approximately 234 km2 of historic known copper and gold occurrences, hosted in upper Proterozoic age meta-volcanic and intrusive rocks within the prospective Nabitah-Tathlith belt. Historic exploration work was focused on volcanic massive sulphide deposits and was conducted by BRGM (the French geological survey) in 1969.

This work comprised geological mapping, trenching and sampling, and identified mineralized gossans at two prospect areas known as Al Miyah and Hishashat-al Hawi. In 1979 Riofinex Limited (a subsidiary of Rio Tinto Zinc), conducted ground geophysics at the Al Miyah prospect and identified a 1.5km long and 200-meter-wide northwest trending magnetic anomaly corresponding to a corridor of mineralized gossan. Historic samples containing malachite and haematite from 25-meter spaced trenches, over 450 meters of strike length, returned up to 2.4% copper (minimum 0.6% average 1.5% copper) and 3.2 grams per tonne gold (minimum 0.2, average 1.2 grams per tonne gold).

Following an Arabian Shield-scale generative exercise, RRA identified Al Miyah as an area of interest for intrusion-related and structurally controlled copper and gold mineralization. During field reconnaissance the team revisited the known potential at Al Miyah and Hishashat-al Hawi and identified new gossans, shear-zone and vein-hosted occurrences some of which returned promising rock-chip geochemistry. A total of 46 grab rock-chip samples were collected and best results included 5.9% copper and 1.3 grams per tonne gold from gossan, and 1.2% copper and 1.1 grams per tonne gold from a vein-hosted occurrence (minimum 0.001%, average 0.6% copper; minimum 0.001, average 0.1 grams per tonne gold).

Additionally, RRA completed a pXRF soil survey on a 150 meter by 25-meter spaced grid along a newly identified northwest trending mineralized shear zone which was traced for approximately 1 kilometer in strike-length at the Hishashat-al Hawi prospect. This survey highlighted a 250 meter by 125 meter wide greater than 500ppm copper anomaly which remains open towards the southeast. RRA interprets the Al Miyah exploration licenses to host significant potential for intrusion-related and structurally controlled copper and gold mineralization, with immediate exploration objectives evident along strike extensions to the Al Miyah magnetic corridor and along the newly identified shear-zone hosted copper and gold mineralization at Hishashat-al Hawi.

The company intends to conduct detailed field mapping and grid-based auger soil sampling across both known prospect areas and new target areas as well as utilizing drone-borne hyperspectral scanner, magnetometer and radiometer, with a view to identifying drill-targets before the end of 2024. The tender was a merit-based process, subject to a proposed exploration program, minimum expenditure commitments and the provision of a performance financial guarantee, to be provided by a recognised Saudi Arabian financial institution. RRA has committed to fund USD 3.9 million in exploration activities for the first two years, which will be results dependent, subject to surrender of the performance financial guarantee.

RRA will be eligible for the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources (MIMR), Exploration Enablement Program, which can provide up to USD 1.1 million per Exploration License in reimbursements. Furthermore, the Company is currently in the process of qualifying for the Saudi Human Resources Development Fund which can provide assistance with expenditures related to local salaries and professional development.