REG - Oriole Resources PLC - Bibemi Exploration Update, Cameroon

Oriole ResourcesAnnouncement

15/06/2023 07:00

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RNS Number : 7691C  Oriole Resources PLC  15 June 2023

Oriole Resources PLC

('Oriole Resources' or 'the Company' or 'the Group')

 

Bibemi Exploration Update, Cameroon

 

Oriole Resources (AIM: ORR), the AIM-quoted exploration company focussed on
West Africa, provides an exploration update on its 90%-owned Bibemi orogenic
gold project ('Bibemi' or the 'Project') in Cameroon, where, following the
delivery of a maiden JORC Mineral Resource Estimate ('Resource') and
Exploration Target last year (announcement dated 12 December 2022), a
follow-up geophysics (ground magnetics) programme has recently been completed
to aid further drill targeting.

 

 

Highlights

 

·    In December 2022, the Company reported a maiden JORC-compliant
Resource of 305,000 Troy ounces ('oz') grading 2.19 grammes per tonne ('g/t')
gold ('Au') for Bakassi Zone 1, one of four prospects at the Project;

·    An additional JORC Exploration Target at Bakassi Zone 1 is estimated
to be between 1.5 and 2.2 million tonnes at grades ranging from 1.10 to 2.10
g/t for between an additional 53,000 and 148,000 oz of Au;

·    Both estimates remain open at depth and along strike to the
northeast;

·    There exists significant potential to expand the Resource at Bakassi
Zone 1 and to identify additional resources at the other three prospects on
the licence, Bakassi Zone 2, Lawa West and Lawa East, which are all located
within a few kilometres ('km') of Bakassi Zone 1;

·    An infill ground magnetics programme has recently been completed at
the Project to provide more complete and detailed coverage than the
prospect-level data acquired in 2022 (announcement 30 May 2022). Processing of
the data, planned for H2-2023, will aid drill targeting for Resource expansion
at Bakassi Zone 1 as well as at the remaining three prospects, each of which
shows evidence of gold mineralisation;

·    Local-level technical studies, including a baseline Environmental
Impact Assessment, have also commenced and will continue throughout H2-2023.

 

 

Oriole Resources CEO, Tim Livesey, said: "Following the delivery of our
JORC-compliant maiden Resource in December, our team has focused on the
identification of additional targets to expand and extend the global resource
at the Project.

"The detailed geophysical interpretations from this new dataset are still
being processed but the early imagery as seen in Figure 1 below, clearly
indicates a much finer structural detail than had previously been visible, and
one that we already know to be highly significant with respect to controlling
gold deposition.

"With a very high success rate on our drilling programmes in 2021/22, we are
seeking to use this new data to further refine targets, both to extend the
existing Resource at Bakassi Zone 1, and to identify additional resources
within the Project, by drill testing significant gold anomalism and
mineralisation previously identified (and in some cases intersected by
drilling) at Bakassi Zone 2, Lawa West and Lawa East.

"These four gold prospects are at most three kilometres apart.  Due to this
proximity, we believe there is a good potential to develop a substantial
global, economic resource, comprising a series of open pits centred on these
prospects and a centralised ore processing facility."

 

Figure 1. Main: Regional magnetic (total magnetic intensity, reduced-to-pole)
image, sun-shaded from 315° (NW), linear colour stretch, with location of the
four prospects identified at Bibemi, diamond drilling collar locations and the
pit outline for the Bakassi Zone 1 Resource. The location of east-northeast
trending structures, thought to be an important control on gold deposition,
are shown as white dashed lines. Inset: Zoom in to Resource area, highlighting
proximity to potential folds and influence of east-northeast structures.

 

Further Details

 

At the Bibemi orogenic gold project in northern Cameroon (177km(2) in
area), the Company's exploration to date has identified shear-hosted gold
mineralisation at four main prospects - Bakassi Zone 1, Bakassi Zone
2, Lawa West and Lawa East - within a 12 km-long mineralised hydrothermal
system at surface. Since Q1-2021, the Company has completed four phases of
diamond drilling at the Project for a total of 6,685.40m in 54 holes (Figure
2). The majority of the drilling has been focussed on a circa 1 km section at
the southern end of Bakassi Zone 1 and has delivered best intersections of
14.80m grading 4.27 g/t Au and 7.70m grading 2.74 g/t Au (hole BBDD050), 6.50m
grading 3.92 g/t Au (hole BBDD034), 5.20m grading 1.97 g/t Au (hole BBDD031),
and 9.20m grading 1.31 g/t Au (hole BBDD042) (announcements dated 20
December 2021, 9 February 2022 and 15 September 2022; Figure 3). The
mineralised corridor at Bakassi Zone 1 has been confirmed up to 150m wide
and contains a package of north-east trending, steeply-dipping
quartz-tourmaline veins as well as extensional, sub-horizontal quartz veins
that trend broadly east-northeast. These flatter-lying veins are hard to
distinguish from regional satellite interpretations but have been identified
in the drill core and through the Company's ground-based geophysics
(magnetics) programmes.

 

 

Figure 2. Bibemi diamond drill plan showing key prospects and collar
locations.

 

 

 

Figure 3. Key intersections returned from the Bakassi Zone 1 prospect.

 

The flatter-lying veins have proved fundamental for building mineralised
volume for Bakassi Zone 1 and in Q4-2022, the Company reported a maiden
Resource of 305,000 oz grading 2.19 g/t Au in the JORC Inferred category,
within the limit of a US$1,800/oz gold price pit shell (Table 1). The
Resource, which was estimated using 28 diamond holes for a total of 3,840m,
was modelled over a strike length of 1,220m and to a depth of 260m below
surface, using a cut-off grade of 0.30 g/t Au and a top-cut of 20 g/t Au.

Table 1. Resource tabulation for Bakassi Zone 1 using a 0.30 g/t Au cut off
and within a US$1,800/oz pit shell.

                           Gross                                            Net Attributable (90%)
 Material  Classification  Tonnage    Grade      Total contained gold (oz)  Tonnage    Grade      Total contained gold (oz)

                                      (g/t Au)                                         (g/t Au)
 Oxide     Inferred        200,000    1.53       10,000                     180,000    1.53       9,000
 Fresh     Inferred        4,100,000  2.23       294,000                    3,690,000  2.23       265,000
 Total     Inferred        4,300,000  2.19       305,000                    3,870,000  2.19       274,000

In addition to the Resource, there is an Exploration Target estimated to be
between 1.5 and 2.2 million tonnes at grades ranging from 1.10 to 2.10 g/t for
between 53,000 and 148,000 oz of Au (Table 2). The Exploration Target is along
strike of the Resource in areas of the deposit, where there is currently
insufficient sample support to be classified as Inferred Resource. With infill
drilling it is hoped that the size and confidence level of the existing
Resource will be increased to incorporate some of the additional ounces.

Table 2. Exploration Target for Bakassi Zone 1 (in addition to the Inferred
Resource)

 Tonnage Range          Grade Range (g/t Au)   Total Contained Metal Range (oz Au)
 1,500,000 - 2,200,000  1.1-2.1                53,000 - 148,000

 

Figure 4. Plan view showing the Resource pit shell at Bakassi Zone 1 and
mineralised blocks representing the Exploration Target.

 

The team has recently completed an infill geophysics (ground magnetic) survey
to provide greater coverage of the Project compared to the initial survey in
H1-2022, which focussed on the discrete prospects identified to date (Figure
3). A total of 95 lines (3-4km length) crossing all four prospects were
completed at a line spacing of 100m, oriented towards N140˚, for an image
resolution of 25m. In addition to delivering comparatively higher-resolution
data (Figure 5), seemingly having identified fold-hinges along strike within
the shear zone, this latest survey has provided coverage between the Lawa West
and Lawa East prospects, where there appears to be multiple intersections of
the northeast shear structures with the flatter-lying east-northeast
structural trends (Figure 1). Lawa East is a particularly important target for
the Company, having delivered a best intersection of 3.00m grading 12.30 g/t
Au from 58.00m during the Phase 4 drilling campaign in 2022 (announcement
dated 15 September 2022).

 

Figure 5. Left (A): Regional magnetic (total magnetic intensity,
reduced-to-pole) image based on 2022 ground magnetics survey over the main
prospects at Bibemi. Right (B) Regional magnetic (total magnetic intensity,
reduced-to-pole) image based on H1-2023 programme, covering prospects as a
single grid.

 

Interpretation of the data, to generate three-dimensional magnetic
susceptibility cross-sections to a depth of 200m below surface, will be
completed by Australia-based Terra Resources during 2023 and will enable the
identification of drill targets, both at Bakassi Zone 1, as well as within the
wider licence.

 

In accordance with the Cameroon Mining Code, the Company is also undertaking a
series of local-level technical studies, including a baseline environmental
and social impact assessment. These studies will continue throughout the
remainder of 2023 and will be submitted to the Ministry as part of the
Project's annual report for 2023/24. As noted within the latest corporate
presentation, the Company is investigating project level and/or joint-venture
funding opportunities across all its projects in Cameroon, as a route to
portfolio development.

 

For further information on the Bibemi project, including a JORC Table 1,
please see the following page of the Company's website
https://orioleresources.com/projects/bibemi/.

 

 

Competent Persons Statement

The information in this release that relates to Exploration Results has been
compiled by Claire Bay (Executive Director, Exploration and Business
Development). Claire Bay (MGeol, CGeol) is a Competent Person as defined in
the JORC code and takes responsibility for the release of this information.
Claire has reviewed the information in this announcement and confirms that she
is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the
information reproduced here.

 

 

** ENDS **

The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute
inside information as stipulated under the retained EU law version of the
Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 (the "UK MAR") which is part
of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. The
information is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under
Article 17 of the UK MAR. Upon the publication of this announcement, this
inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

 

For further information please visit www.orioleresources.com
(http://www.orioleresources.com/) ,  @OrioleResources on Twitter,

or contact:

 

 Oriole Resources PLC                                   Tel: +44 (0)23 8065 1649

 Tim Livesey / Bob Smeeton / Claire Bay

 BlytheRay (IR/PR contact)                              Tel: +44 (0)20 7138 3204

 Tim Blythe / Megan Ray / Rachael Brooks

 Grant Thornton UK LLP                                  Tel: +44 (0)20 7383 5100

 Samantha Harrison / George Grainger / Ciara Donnelly

 SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP                         Tel: +44 (0)20 3470 0470

 Ewan Leggat / Harry Davies-Ball

 

Notes to Editors:

 

Oriole Resources PLC is an AIM-listed gold exploration company, operating
in West Africa. It is focussed on early-stage exploration
in Cameroon, where the Company has a maiden Resource of 305,000 oz Au in the
JORC Inferred category at the Bibemi project and has identified
multi-kilometre gold and lithium anomalism within the district-scale Central
Licence Package project. At the more advanced Senala gold project in Senegal,
Oriole was advised by IAMGOLD on 26 April 2023 that AGEM Senegal Exploration
Suarl ('AGEM') was now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Managem Group. As
previously announced, AGEM has earned an initial 51% beneficial interest by
spending US$4 million and has the option to spend up to a further US$4 million
by 28 February 2024 to earn a further 19% interest. Reverse Circulation
drilling is planned as part of AGEM's Year 6 programme at Senala. The Company
also has several interests and royalties in companies operating in East Africa
and Turkey that could deliver future cash flow.

 

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