You may be borrowing the wrapper rather than the contents that you want.

asref-borrow.rs

#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
struct Resource(usize);

#[derive(Debug)]
struct Error;

fn may_fail(ix: usize) -> Result<Resource, Error> {
    if rand::random::<f64>() < 0.5 { 
        Err(Error)
    } else {
        Ok(Resource(ix))
    }
}

fn main() {
    let mut results = Vec::with_capacity(5);
    let mut main_resource = Resource(0);
    for i in 0..5 {
        let result = may_fail(i);
        if result.is_ok() {
            main_resource = result
                .as_ref()
                .unwrap()
                .clone();
        }
        // refactor.
        // if let Ok(ref resource) = result {
        //     main_resource = resource.clone();
        // }
        results.push(result);
    }
    dbg!(main_resource);
    dbg!(results);
}