Dr. Tim Coughlin reports

ROYAL ROAD MINERALS AND MSB HOLDINGS GRANTED PREFERRED BIDDER STATUS FOR THE JABAL SAHABIYAH EXPLORATION LICENSE; KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA

Royal Road Minerals Ltd. and MSB Holdings Ltd. have been awarded preferred bidder status in a competitive licensing round for the Jabal Sahabiyah exploration licence 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 licence will be granted to Royal Road Arabia (RRA), Royal Road and MSB's 50-50 joint venture vehicle (see press release Aug. 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 licence will have an initial term of five years, with an option to renew every further five years for a total of 15 years. RRA has committed to minimum expenditure of $5.5-million (U.S.) (20.65 million Saudi riyal), over the first five years. Expenditure is success-dependent subject to surrender of the performance guarantee.

The Jabal Sahabiyah exploration licence is approximately 284 square kilometres in area and was discovered as a result of regional mapping by Riofinex Ltd. in the late 1970s. The prospect is located in the highly prospective Nabitah-Tathlith belt and consists of copper-zinc-lead mineralized gossans and vein-gold occurrences hosted in greenschist and amphibolite facies metasedimentary and granitoid rocks. Twenty shallow percussion drill holes (totalling 617.5 metres) were drilled into one of the gossan occurrences by Riofinex with best results including drill hole JM4: 14 m at 0.6 per cent copper and 5.1 per cent zinc from surface, and drill hole JM3: 6.5 m at 0.9 per cent copper, and 0.6 per cent zinc from surface.

Dr. Tim Coughlin, Royal Road's president and chief executive officer, stated: "We are grateful to the MIMR for granting us this opportunity at Jabal Sahabiyah and we are eager to get started. Over 40 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 hyperspectral 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, countrywide, across Saudi Arabia. These operations have already resulted in the identification of new prospect areas and the submission of promising exploration licence 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."

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 honour 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."

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