REG - Oriole Resources PLC - Mbe Exploration Update

Oriole ResourcesAnnouncement

24/04/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 7726L  Oriole Resources PLC  24 April 2024

Oriole Resources PLC

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

 

 Mbe Exploration Update

 

Oriole Resources (AIM: ORR), the AIM-quoted gold exploration company focussed
on West Africa, is pleased to provide an exploration update for its 80%-owned
Mbe gold project in Cameroon ('Mbe' or the 'Project').

 

 

Highlights

 

·    In January, Oriole signed a definitive earn-in agreement with BCM
International Limited ('BCM') to invest up to US$4 million in exploration at
Mbe, with BCM awarded a 10% beneficial interest in the Project following
receipt of the full US$1 million signature payment and now earning up to an
additional 40% interest (announcements dated 19 January 2024 and 29 February
2024);

·    Work to date has focused on the main 3-kilometre ('km') long MB-01
target, where up to 256.74 grammes per tonne ('g/t') gold ('Au') and 25.16 g/t
Au has been returned from outcrop sampling and pit sampling respectively
(announcement dated 22 January 2024);

·    A programme of infill soil sampling has now been completed at MB-01,
at a sample spacing of 100 metres ('m') x 25m, for a total of 4,537 samples
(including QAQC). Results are expected later this quarter and will be used to
finalise a follow-up trenching programme that is also planned to commence in
Q2;

·    Processing and ground-truthing of ground geophysical data has found
evidence of further sets of sub-cropping veins and their alteration haloes at
MB-01, suggesting that the overall shear zone at MB-01 could be up to 2km wide
and therefore offering significant potential to expand the scale of the
targets;

·    The interpretation has also identified two further corridors,
MB_Target A and MB_Target B, which are located east of, and are broadly
parallel to, the existing MB-01 zone, offering the potential to deliver
additional prospects at Mbe;

·    A second infill soil sampling programme (100m x 50m spacing) has
commenced over the wider 12.5km-long zone of soil anomalism at Mbe, which
captures these target areas, and is currently approximately 50% complete.

 

Executive Director Exploration and Business Development, Claire Bay, said:
"The Mbe project is becoming more exciting by the day. Having initially
defined the MB-01 prospect as being 3km-long by 700m-wide, this geophysics
interpretation gives support for a significant width extension of the overall
structural corridor to 2km and has identified an additional two prospective
targets immediately to the east.

"At MB-01, samples from a recently completed infill soil sampling campaign are
on their way to the assay lab, with gold results anticipated next month. These
results will help guide the location of trench sampling, planned for later
this quarter, which will subsequently help us to plan a maiden drilling
programme at MB-01 for the next field season.

"A second soil sampling programme over the wider licence area is already
underway to test the newly identified target areas, and this has the potential
to identify additional prospects for follow-up exploration. Results are
expected in Q2."

Figure 1. Surface geochemistry, interpreted structures, and identified targets
on a combined total magnetic intensity (TMI) and vertical derivative (VD) base
image.

 

Further Details

 

Mbe (312km(2)) is an early-stage project located within the broader 2,266km(2)
'Eastern CLP' package of contiguous gold-focussed licences in central
Cameroon. In 2022, Oriole completed semi-regional soil sampling (400m by 200m
spacing) that identified a c.12.5km-long zone of gold-in-soil anomalism, a
series of en-echelon zones that trend east-northeast (announcement dated 17
August 2022). Follow-up work during 2023 identified a cross-cutting
(northeast-trending) 3km-long geological zone, MB-01, containing areas of
high-grade gold mineralisation within an intensely altered felsic unit.
Results of up to 134.10 g/t Au were returned from surface samples and
artisanal workings (announcements dated 30 January 2023, 27 February 2023 and
21 June 2023).

 

On 19 January 2024, the Company signed a definitive earn-in agreement with
BCM, whereby BCM is currently earning up to a 50% interest in return for US$1
million in signature payments, which has already been received, US$4 million
in exploration funding and future resource-linked success-based payments.

 

BCM's due-diligence review over the MB-01 target returned 155 out of 639
samples grading equal or greater than ("≥") 1 g/t Au, 13 of which have
graded ≥10 g/t Au. Of these higher-grading samples, best results
include 256.74 g/t, 133.44 g/t, 75.09 g/t, 33.66 g/t and 22.89 g/t Au from
outcrop sampling, and 25.16 g/t, 23.97 g/t, 9.98 g/t, and 8.75 g/t Au from
pit sampling (announcement dated 22 January 2024). A further 232 samples
graded between 0.20 and 0.99 g/t Au.

 

The team has recently completed structural mapping of the pits (5-10m deep and
exclusively dug by artisanal miners) and identified three groups of
shear-related structures, all of which appear to be associated with gold
mineralisation:

 

-      S1 - NNE-SSW trending, steeply dipping to the NW or SE

-      S2 - NE-SW to ENE-WSW trending, variable dips to the N or S

-      S3 - NW-SE to NNE-SSE trending, predominantly steeply dipping to
the SW.

 

The overall trend of the S1 group corresponds to the trend of the MB-01
target, which sits within the broader 12.5km-long gold-in-soil anomalism,
which corresponds to the S2 group. The third group, S3, is perpendicular to S2
and could represent a conjugate component of the system.

 

Infill soil sampling at a sample spacing of 100m x 25m, has now been completed
across the MB-01 target area, for a total of 4,537 samples (including QAQC),
and results are expected later this quarter. The results will inform a
trenching programme across the MB-01 prospect, which is planned to commence
later in Q2.

 

 

Figure 2: Planned 100m x 50m infill soil grid at Mbe. The red block represents
the area where 100m x 25m sampling has been completed over the MB-01 target.

 

During Q1-2024, Terra Resources ('Terra') completed an interpretation of
geophysics (ground magnetic) data collected by the Company in 2023.

 

Terra has identified a series of point targets across the licence area, which
are interpreted to represent remnant pyrrhotite mineralisation. Of the 22
targets identified, 12 were located either within or adjacent to the MB-01
zone.

 

 

Figure 3: Terra targets superimposed on TMI image with the NE-SW trending
MB-01 lithologies overlain.

 

Combining the geophysics interpretation within existing surface geochemistry
data suggests that the MB-01 anomaly outcrops within a shear corridor, the
newly named 'Mbe-Ngaouyanga shear zone', that is up to 2 kilometres wide.
Ground-truthing of that interpretation has found evidence of further
sub-cropping vein systems well-outside of the currently defined 700m-wide
corridor, offering significant potential to expand the scale of the target at
MB-01.

 

Two other targets, 'MB_Target A' and 'MB_Target B' (see Fig. 1) have been
identified from the interpretation of the geophysical data and historical
geological and geochemical data collected by Oriole. Both targets are located
east of, and are broadly parallel to, the existing MB-01 prospect., offering
the potential to deliver additional prospects within the Mbe licence area.

A second infill soil sampling programme (100m x 50m spacing) has commenced
over the wider 12.5 km-long zone of soil anomalism at Mbe, which captures
these target areas, and is currently approximately 50% complete.

 

Competent Persons Statement

The technical information in this release that relates to Exploration Results
and the planned exploration programme 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.

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

 Grant Thornton UK LLP                   Tel: +44 (0)20 7383 5100
 Samantha Harrison / Ciara Donnelly / Elliot Peters
 SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP          Tel: +44 (0)20 3470 0470

 Ewan Leggat

 

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 reported a Resource of 375,000 oz Au at
2.30g/t in the JORC Inferred category at its 82.2%-owned Bibemi project and
has identified multi-kilometre gold and lithium anomalism within the
district-scale Central Licence Package project. BCM International is
currently earning up to a 50% interest in the Bibemi and Mbe projects in
return for a combined investment of US$1.5 million in signature payments
(which has already been received), up to US$8 million in exploration
expenditure, as well as JORC resource-based success payments.

At the Senala gold project in Senegal, AGEM Senegal Exploration Suarl
('AGEM'), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Managem Group, has recently completed
a six-year earn-in to acquire an estimated 59% beneficial interest in the
Senala Exploration Licence by spending US$5.8 million. A review of
expenditure and discussions on the formation of a joint-venture company are
currently underway. 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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