That boardroom access now gives Rio2 a front row seat as Royal Road pushes ahead with its hunt for elephant-sized copper-gold systems in Colombia, Saudi Arabia and Morocco.
For Royal Road, Rio2’s arrival signals access to fresh capital. It is also a powerful vote of confidence from a proven mine-builder with serious runs on the board. With Rio2’s firepower and credibility now in its corner, Royal Road may be able to lean on heavyweight backing as it looks to turn discoveries into real, bankable resources.
Rio2’s main focus, meanwhile, remains on its whopping 4.8-million-ounce flagship Fenix Gold project in Chile’s Atacama Desert – tipped to become one of the largest heap-leach gold mines in the Americas when it starts operations next year.
Using a simple, low-cost heap-leach process and trucked water, the mine will kick off with a bumper 12-year stretch delivering 91,000 ounces a year at 0.54 grams per tonne (g/t), before settling into a 17-year average of 82,000 ounces annually at 0.48g/t.
Last week Rio2 commissioned two local desalinated water suppliers to study piping water straight to site – a potential game-changer in the world’s driest desert.
Cracking the Atacama’s water code could smash a major bottleneck and unlock the path to tripling output at Fenix Gold to a staggering 300,000 ounces a year.
In a market where majors are circling for new ounces and investors are starved of fresh gold stories, this link-up ticks plenty of boxes. Rio2 gets exposure to discovery potential in Colombia and the Middle East, while Royal Road wins an influential backer to help shepherd its projects forward.
It’s a classic win-win in the resource sector – one part optionality, one part credibility and a big dose of ambition.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
