Update on COVID-19 Impact and Licensing

RNS Number : 2513W

Red Rock Resources plc

17 August 2020

 

Red Rock Resources PLC

("Red Rock" or the "Company")

Update on Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic and Licensing

17 August 2020

Red Rock Resources Plc, the natural resource development company with interests in gold, manganese and minerals, announces its assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on its business and prospects, and provides an update on licensing matters in relation to its key gold interests.

COVID-19

The pandemic has had impacts in all the key locations where the Company operates:

Australia

22,743 cases and 375 deaths have been recorded, a death rate per 1m population of 15^{Note 1}.

Peak daily cases occurred around the beginning of August with peak daily cases around 12 August. International flights have been suspended and movement between States restricted, with isolation imposed in Melbourne and parts of Victoria.

Geologists for Red Rock subsidiary Red Rock Australasia Pty Ltd ("RRAL") and for the contractor carrying out work for the NI 43-101 report have been available locally in the Victoria Goldfields and have been able to access the license areas without difficulty or delay.

State agencies with which RRAL has to deal as part of the licensing process have been affected by the lockdowns but continue to provide a service.

Kenya

28,754 cases of the coronavirus COVID-19 and 460 deaths from the virus have been recorded in Kenya, with a death rate per 1m population of 9.

Peak daily cases appear to have been around the 26^th July so far with peak daily deaths peaking in the week beginning 27^th July. A daily curfew is in place from 9 pm to 4 am but international flights began to resume from 1 August, with arrivals having to isolate for 14 days in the absence of documentation proving a negative test result within the previous 4 days.

Government and other offices are not working at full capacity and the curfew has acted as an inhibiting factor to domestic travel. These factors and the effect on the tourist industry are having a strong negative effect on the economy.

The effect on the Company has been to cause some delays but has otherwise been minimal. 

Democratic Republic of Congo

9,589 cases of the COVID-19 virus have been reported in the DRC, with 234 deaths, or 3 deaths per 1m population.

The 3 day moving average of new daily cases peaked on 20^th June, with the 3 day moving average of new daily deaths attributed to the virus peaking on 29^th June. No international flights or internal flights to and from Kinshasa are yet permitted, but international flights are beginning to operate from 15^th August. 

The mining centre of Lubumbashi in the south-east of the country has been relatively unaffected. The Company's ability to operate efficiently has been affected by the inability to meet face to face with its partners and stakeholders, and to plan for travel. It is expected that this situation will improve in the coming month.  

South Africa

The country has during the winter seen an increase in cases to 572,865, with 11,270 deaths or 190 per 1m population. New daily cases peaked on 24^th July with the 3 day moving average of new daily deaths peaking on 10^th August.

The recorded cases in South Africa are nearly 12 times the level in the next worst affected African country, Nigeria. In areas such as the Eastern Cape where the health service had management and funding issues before the virus, the system has not coped well. Investee company Jupiter Mines Ltd, a partner in the Tshipi é Ntle manganese mine in the Northern Cape, after suspending production like other businesses at the beginning of the lockdown period from 26 March to 13 April, has put in place strict safety protocols for its workforce and has been able to achieve targets and remained profitable and cash positive. 

Note 1: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ as at 14 August 2020

LICENSING - GOLD

Australia

In Australia License applications EL007271, EL007281, and EL007285 have completed the advertising period and are being processed by Earth Resources Victoria. Advertisements have been prepared for the other eight license areas and await approval. As noted above COVID-19 may cause delays.

Africa

Further to the announcements of 31 March 2020 and 19 September 2019, the anticipated renewals of Prospecting Licenses PL/2018/0202 and PL/2018/0203 (formerly SPLs 122 and 202) have now been received for a period of three years from 2 August 2020. 

As no activities have been able to take place on these license areas in Kenya for several years, it is some time since the Company has made announcements in relation to them. The Company will now be reviewing how it proposes to proceed and in the meantime, for the assistance of investors, a summary of key relevant historic exploration announcements with links is set out at Appendix A below. All with all historic regulatory news announcements by the Company, these may also be accessed through the London Stock Exchange website or through the home page of the Company website at www.rrrplc.com  

Red Rock Chairman Andrew Bell comments : "We are now able to plan for visits to some of the countries in which we operate, although the travel situation remains difficult.

Operations have been able to continue with little interruption and there are signs that the epidemic has in many countries passed its peak.

The process of grant and renewal of key licenses has continued as Government departments try to keep operating with reduced staff levels present. It is gratifying to be able to report that we can now plan for a resumption of work after a gap of some years in our Kenyan licenses after their recent renewal. We thank the authorities for their assistance in finally resolving this matter despite the difficulties caused by COVID-19, and look forward to resuming immediately our work on the ground. Further announcements on this matter will follow.

With these developments Red Rock re-establishes its credentials as a gold company, with assets covering the spectrum from interests in production, through holdings of substantial compliant Mineral Resources, to exploration."

The information contained within this announcement is considered to be inside information prior to its release, as defined in Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation No.596/2014 and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of those Regulations.

For further information, please contact:

Andrew Bell 0207 747 9990    Chairman Red Rock Resources Plc

Scott Kaintz 0207 747 9990                                                       Director Red Rock Resources Plc

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

Mark Treharne 0203 700 2500 Broker Pello Capital Limited

Appendix A: Historic Red Rock announcements relating to Kenyan exploration

29 May 2014:   Positive Technical and Economic Assessment  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/ergoo0x

17 January 2014:  Update

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/4x477kx  

11 December 2013: Exploration Update - New Exploration targets

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/vw14z6w (with two attachments including report)

12 June 2013:  Pit Optimisation Study

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/ornz70r ( with one attachment report)

14 December 2012: Completion of JORC Mineral Resource Estimate: 1.2m ounces https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/mx8v05w (six attachments)

20 September 2012: Regional Exploration Update - New Prospects Defined

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/drmgj8r (four attachments)

15 August 2012:  Tailings Project: Submission of Mining License Application

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/jw375dx  

25 July 2012:  Additional JORC Mineral Resource Estimates Defined

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/mx8pzjw (four attachments)

10 July 2012:  Further high grade drilling results indicate the potential of stacked zones

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/0xz6y7r   (five attachments)

2 July 2012:  Base Metal Exploration confirms prospectivity

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/pr7v67r (two attachments)

27 June 2012:  Positive metallurgical test results

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/1xj8m7r  

26 April 2012:  High grade intersections

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/ord4mmr (one attachment)

11 April 2012:  Significant Initial Gold Results from Regional Aircore Drilling

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/mx8p5jw (one attachment)

2 February 2012:  Scoping Study - Tailings

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/kx24dzw (seven attachments)

15 December 2011: New JORC Mineral Resource Estimate

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/vwk3pdx   (four attachments)

21 November 2011: Drill Results

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/4x4eddr   (four attachments)

14 October 2011:  Measured Mineral Resource Estimate

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/vw1zq1x  

29 September 2011: Update

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/0xz6o7r  

20 September 2011: Appointment of Consultant - Scoping Study

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/pr7vd7r  

30 August 2011;  Update

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/ewvv53w  

26 July 2011:  Update

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/3xogmmr  

8 July 2011:  Update

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/6xllm3x   (five attachments)

9 June 2011:  Update - metallurgical testwork

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/5xe65jr  

15 April 2011:  Update

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/3xogv3r  

30 March 2011:  Update

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/ornn0kr (one attachment)

13 December 2010: Two copper targets to be drilled

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/4ry2dkw (five attachments)

19 August 2010:  Indicated Resource

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/oxq912r  

18 August 2010:  Update

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/4x4ez3r  

29 July 2010:  Update

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/3xog31r  

24 June 2010:  Sample Results

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/0xz6nlr (one attachment)

18 May 2010:  Exploration Update: Sampling

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/ewvvp0w (two attachments)

23 April 2010:  Drilling Results

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/4ry24yw (one attachment)

15 March 2010:  Exploration Update and Sample Results

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/ow0gylx (one attachment)

14 January 2010:  Update

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/5xe6qor  

26 November 2009: Update

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/0x5j7lw  

13 November 2009: Update

  https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/red_rock_resources/news/rns/story/mx8pqew  

 

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