Maiden Drilling Programme Commences at Mbe

Oriole Resources PLC

19 November 2024

 

Oriole Resources PLC 

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

 Maiden Drilling Programme Commences at Mbe Gold Project, Cameroon

Oriole Resources (AIM: ORR), the AIM-quoted gold exploration company focussed on West and Central Africa, is delighted to announce the commencement of a maiden drilling programme at its 80%[1]-owned Mbe gold project in the Adamawa region of Cameroon ('Mbe' or the 'Project'), where BCM International Limited ('BCM') is currently funding up to US$4 million in exploration expenditure.

Mbe is just one of five licences within the Company's broader package of contiguous exploration licences, the 'Eastern CLP', which covers 2,266 square kilometres ('km²') of ground prospective for gold ('Au') deposits.  Work to date at Mbe has focussed on the MB01 prospect ('MB01'), which comprises the MB01-N and MB01-S targets.

Highlights

·    A fully funded maiden diamond drilling programme is now underway for a planned 6,590 metres ('m') across 24 holes at MB01-S, the largest and most prospective target at MB01, with fence lines-oriented E-W to optimally target the key mineralised structures.

·    The MB01 prospect was considered drill ready following excellent results from a major trenching programme (announcements dated 3 September 2024, 30 September 2024 and 12 November 2024), with the MB01-S target returning best intersections of 51.00 m at 1.02 grammes per tonne ('g/t') Au (MBT007), 88.00m at 0.71g/t Au and 47.75m at 1.23g/t Au (MBT008), and 79.00m at 0.43g/t Au (MBT015).

·    The initial four holes to be drilled will be paired scissor holes, sited over the core of the steeply dipping 500m long mineralised corridor, to review and confirm the structural orientation of the mineralised zones and therefore the optimal drilling azimuth.

·    Drilling at the MB01-N target, which has also identified substantial widths of mineralisation over a mineralised corridor length of 450m, will be considered later in the field season.

Chief Executive Officer of Oriole Resources, Martin Rosser, said: "This is a highly exciting and important milestone for our Mbe gold project.  The project team, with our partner BCM, has worked hard to mobilise the new BCM drill rig, and prepare for the Oriole designed and managed intensive maiden drilling campaign.  We are greatly looking forward to reporting the results from the first holes drilled on the MB01-S target in due course."

Figure 1.  Maiden drilling programme planned at MB01-S. Drilling is targeting the core zone of mineralisation identified by structural assessment, trenching and gold-in-soil anomalism. The majority of holes will be drilled towards the east (azimuth of 090˚) with two planned scissor holes to be drilled towards the west (azimuth of 270˚).

Further Details

Mbe, with a licence area of 312km², is an orogenic gold project located within the broader 2,266km² 'Eastern CLP' package of five contiguous gold-focussed exploration licences in the Adamawa region in central Cameroon.  Since 2022, the Company's systematic exploration programmes have identified a 3 kilometre ('km')-long, northeast-trending prospect, named MB01 (or the 'Prospect'), which sits within a wider 12.5km-long zone of gold-in-soil anomalism that trends east-northeast.

At MB01, increased dilation at the sites of structural intersections is believed to have resulted in enhanced levels of gold deposition at the MB01-N and MB01-S targets.  Gold mineralisation at these targets comprises high-grade, sulphide-rich quartz veins and veinlets that occur within, or at the contact with, an intensely altered felsic unit, which itself is mineralised and creates wide envelopes of pervasive, lower-grade gold mineralisation.  

Results from 4,537 infill soil samples (taken on a 100m x 25m grid, including Quality Assurance and Quality Control ('QAQC') samples) over the whole Prospect, delivered up to 8,174 parts per billion ('ppb') (8.17g/t) Au and identified three substantial zones of in-situ gold mineralisation, the most significant being at MB01-S, where a greater than 100ppb Au gold-in-soil anomaly extends over an area of 1.15km long by up to 0.75km wide.

Following the infill soil programme at MB01, two phases of trenching for a total of 7,055m have been completed across the MB01-N and MB01-S sub-prospects, where access and ground conditions allowed.  Whilst significant intersections were returned from both MB01-N and MB01-S (announcements dated 3 September 2024, 30 September 2024 and 12 November 2024, and summarised in Table 1), MB01-S was determined to be the priority target of the two and will be the focus of the maiden drilling programme.

Table 1. Summary of best intersections from the Mbe trenching programme completed in 2024. Results in bold are greater than 1g/t Au

	Trench ID	Best intersections
MB01-S	MBT007	51.00m at 1.02g/t Au including 18.00m at 1.66g/t Au 36.00m at 0.80g/t Au including 15.00m at 1.33g/t Au 32.00m at 1.32g/t Au including 6.00m at 3.46g/t Au
	MBT015	79.00m at 0.43g/t Au including 2.00m at 1.60g/t Au
	MBT008	88.00m at 0.71g/t Au including 26.00m at 1.26g/t Au 47.75m at 1.24g/t Au including 28.00m at 1.90g/t Au
	MBT009	28.00m at 0.36g/t Au
MB01-N	MBT001	50.00m at 1.11g/t Au including 20.00m at 2.23g/t Au
	MBT003	68.00m at 0.77g/t Au
	MBT012	122.00m at 0.34g/t Au including 6.00m at 1.03g/t Au
	MBT002	38.00m at 0.55g/t Au

Figure 2. Mineralised intervals from both Phase 1 and Phase 2 Infill trenching at MB01-S over gold-in-soil anomalies and superimposed on Maxar satellite image background.

The Company today reports that a maiden diamond drilling programme is now underway at MB01-S for a planned 6,590m in 24 holes.  Drilling fence lines are oriented E-W, which is considered, by the Oriole team and also independent structural consultant SEMS Exploration, to be the optimal orientation to capture the two key structural trends at MB01, which are believed to be mineralised conjugate fault/fracture sets oriented trending towards NNE-SWW and NNW-SSE, and ENE-WSW and ESE-WSW (see announcement dated 12 November 2024).

The majority of holes are currently planned to be drilled towards the east (090˚). However, the initial four drill holes will be scissored pairs, with MBDD001 and MBDD003 drilled towards the east (090˚), and MBDD002 and MBDD004 towards the west (270˚), to ascertain the ideal azimuth to ensure an optimal intersection of the aforementioned structural orientations.

MB01-N is also an important target for the Company, and a review of the 450m-long corridor of mineralisation will be considered later in the field season.

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

Competent Persons Statement 

The technical information in this release that relates to Exploration Results and the planned exploration programme has been compiled by Mrs Claire Bay (Executive Director).   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, @OrioleResources on X, or contact:

Oriole Resources Plc	Tel: [phone]
Martin Rosser / Bob Smeeton / Claire Bay
BlytheRay (IR/PR Contact)	Tel: [phone]
Tim Blythe / Megan Ray
Grant Thornton UK LLP	Tel: [phone]
Samantha Harrison / Ciara Donnelly / Elliot Peters
SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP Ewan Leggat	Tel: [phone]

Notes to Editors:

Oriole Resources PLC is an AIM-listed gold exploration company, operating in Central and West Africa.  It is focussed on early-stage exploration in Cameroon, where the Company has reported a Resource of 375,000 ounces ('oz') Au at 2.30g/t in the JORC Inferred category at its 82.2%[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 licences in return for a combined investment of US$1.5 million in signature payments, 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 active in East Africa and Turkey that could deliver future cash flow.

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[1] Oriole is currently undertaking a restructuring process that, once completed, will see it acquire a 90% interest in the Project (announcement dated 17 October 2024).

[2] Oriole is currently undertaking a restructuring process that, once completed, will see it acquire a 90% interest in Bibemi (announcement dated 17 October 2024).

 

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