Phase 2 Drilling Programme to Commence at Bibemi

RNS Number : 4842L

Oriole Resources PLC

13 September 2021

 

Oriole Resources PLC 

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

1,650m Phase 2 Drilling Programme to Commence Shortly at Bibemi

Oriole Resources PLC (AIM: ORR), the AIM-quoted exploration company focussed on West Africa, is pleased to announce that a Phase 2 diamond drilling programme will shortly commence at its 90%-owned Bibemi gold project ('Bibemi' or 'the Project') in Cameroon. The planned 1,650 metre ('m') programme will target a c.1 kilometre ('km') strike length at the southern end of the Bakassi Zone 1 prospect ('Bakassi Zone 1'), where maiden drilling earlier this year returned best intersections of 2.45m grading 2.96 grammes per tonne ('g/t') gold ('Au'), 3.60m grading 1.75 g/t Au and 12.40m grading 0.71 g/t Au (announcement dated 29 June 2021).

The team is now on site at Bibemi and drilling is expected to start before the end of the month. Follow-up work, including infill soil sampling and detailed geophysics, is also being planned for the other three prospects within the licence.

Highlights

· The team has arrived on site at Bibemi ahead of commencing a Phase 2 drilling programme later this month;

· 11 'Priority 1' drill holes have been planned for c.1,650m to infill drill the maiden fence lines BZ1_L6 and BZ1_L7 and test strike extensions;

· Infill soil sampling planned over the southern extension of the system, towards Lawa West and Lawa East, ahead of further drilling;

· Geophysics also being planned for Lawa East, where the system is structurally more complex.

Oriole Resources  CEO, Tim Livesey , said:  "We are very pleased to be kicking off the 2021/22 field season with this infill drilling programme at the Bakassi Zone 1 target. 

"We aim to test the indications from the earlier trenching, mapping and maiden drilling in this area, for potential continuity between these two section lines, a strike extent of some 800m. 

"Additional work will be carried out to test the continuity of this mineralisation along strike to the northeast and southwest. 

"Having already established a camp in Q1 of this year and with the drill rig on site, we expect to be seeing initial results during Q4-2021."

Further Details

In Q2-2021, the Company completed its maiden drilling programme at Bibemi for a total of 3,118m in 29 holes to test four key prospects (Bakassi Zone 1, Bakassi Zone 2, Lawa West and Lawa East) within the 8.3km-long system.

Results from the maiden programme confirmed that the shear-hosted gold system continues to at least 100m below surface and remains open at depth and along strike. The widest zones of mineralisation to date (up to 12m) have been returned from the southern end of the Bakassi Zone 1 prospect ('Bakassi Zone 1'), with best intersections of 2.45m grading 2.96 g/t Au, 3.60m grading 1.75 g/t Au and 12.40m grading 0.71 g/t Au. There appears to be clear continuity of the mineralised structures between drilling fence lines BZ1_L6 and BZ1_L7, which are themselves 800m apart, and it is interpreted that the mineralisation continues southwards along strike to Lawa West.

The Company today reports that it will shortly commence a follow-up diamond drilling programme focussed on infill and extension drilling around these fence lines. The planned 1,650m programme will comprise 11 holes targeting 'Priority 1' targets that have been defined on the basis of previous surface and drilling results. All holes have been planned towards an azimuth of 320 degrees and to a depth of 150m. The team is already on site and, having confirmed that the seasonal rains have subsided enough to allow safe working, the drilling is expected to commence before the end of September.

A map showing the planned holes for Phase 2 can be viewed at the following link: http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/4842L_1-2021-9-12.pdf .

In addition, a 100m x 100m infill soil sampling grid has been designed to cover the area between the southern limit of Bakassi Zone 1 and Bakassi Zone 2, extending towards the Lawa East and Lawa West prospects. Whilst pilot drilling was completed as part of the maiden programme, the Lawa prospects were only identified shortly beforehand and were not subject to the Company's previous trenching campaigns. As such, a total of 1,455 points (on east-west traverse lines) have been planned to increase the resolution of data in the area prior to further drilling.

Geophysics is also being planned for Lawa East, where the maiden drilling returned visible gold from a 0.80m interval grading 27.90 g/t Au from 69.00m (announcement dated 29 June 2021). Whilst the vein types and orientations are similar to those observed at Bakassi Zone 1 and Lawa West, the structural relationships are more complex and mineralisation is generally related to brecciation. A geophysical survey aims to resolve this complexity to aid more focused follow-up drilling.

At this stage it is anticipated that both the soil sampling and geophysics programmes will commence in Q4 this year.

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

Under the terms of its option agreement with Bureau d'Etudes et d'Investigations Géologico-minières, Géotechniques et Géophysiques SARL ('BEIG3'), the Company has satisfied the conditions to earn a 90% interest in RMC Cameroon SARL, which owns Bibemi, the Wapouzé project (20km to the north) and three licences in Central Cameroon. Beneficial ownership in the licences has been confirmed and the administrative process to formalise this ownership is currently underway.

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 Market Abuse Regulations (EU No. 596/2014) which is part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (withdrawal) Act 2018. 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 Twitter, or contact:

Oriole Resources PLC Bob Smeeton / Tim Livesey / Claire Bay	Tel: [phone]
Blytheweigh (IR/PR contact) Tim Blythe / Megan Ray / Rachael Brooks	Tel: [phone]
Grant Thornton UK LLP Samantha Harrison / George Grainger	Tel: [phone]
Shard Capital Partners LLP Damon Heath / Erik Woolgar / Isabella Pierre	Tel: [phone]

Notes to Editors:

Oriole Resources PLC is an AIM-listed exploration company, operating West Africa. It is focused on early-stage exploration in Cameroon (at its 90%-owned Bibemi, Wapouzé and Central Licences projects) and the more advanced Senala gold project in Senegal, where IAMGOLD has the option to spend US$8 million to earn a 70% interest. The Company has several interests and royalties in companies operating throughout Africa and Turkey that could deliver future cash flow, and it continues to assess new opportunities in both regions.

 

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