Royal Road Minerals Ltd (TSX-V:RYR, OTC:RRDMF) revealed earlier this week that its joint venture in Saudi Arabia, Royal Road Arabia, has qualified for the country's Exploration Enablement Program.
This initiative is designed by the Saudi government to promote grassroots exploration, reimbursing expenses up to $2 million for the first five years of exploration licenses.
Royal Road CEO Tim Coughlin joined Proactive to discuss the milestone. Coughlin discussed the significance of this program for the company's Jabal Sahabiyah project, which includes three exploration licenses, all of which qualify for the program.
Proactive: You're out with good news that Royal Road Arabia, your joint venture in Saudi, has qualified for the country's Exploration Enablement Program. Tell us a bit more about that.
Tim Coughlin: Yes, that’s correct. A little bit more about it. So essentially, it's an initiative by the Saudi government to promote grassroots exploration in Saudi Arabia. It recognizes that over the last 10 years or so, grassroots or early-stage exploration hasn’t been a priority for the financial sector.
So your project, Jabal Sahabiyah, actually has three exploration licenses. Have you started work on those licenses, and would you be able to claim on all three?
Yes, correct. It's for all three licenses, starting from year one. Our year one started strictly in June of this year, so from June, we can claim the eligible percentages of expenses.
It’s obviously great that Saudi Arabia has this program in place. Where’s the financial sector at with financing?
That's a great question. I tend to put myself out there when it comes to this argument because I believe the financial sector needs to pay attention. For the past 10 years, there’s been a mundane focus on advanced projects, and in hindsight, we can say it hasn’t worked well for anyone. We’re now desperately seeking resources, and this will intensify in the coming years.
There was an interesting report by S&P this week. The report looked at copper discoveries from 1990 to 2023. Out of 239 projects with over 500,000 ounces of copper, only 14 have been discovered in the last 10 years. Seventy percent of that aggregate copper was found between 1990 and 2000. So there it is, in numbers. My sense is that the financial sector is coming around to supporting exploration, out of necessity rather than design. I’m optimistic that this trend will continue.
Quotes have been lightly edited for clarity and style