Wapouzé Project Update, Cameroon

Oriole Resources PLC

27 September 2023

 

Oriole Resources PLC 

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

Wapouzé Project Update, Cameroon

Oriole Resources (AIM: ORR), the AIM-quoted exploration company focussed on West Africa, is pleased to provide an exploration update for its 90%-owned Wapouzé project ('Wapouzé' or 'the Project') in northern Cameroon.

Highlights

·    A review of the historical data in 2022-2023 determined that gold prospectivity at Wapouzé was lower than that at the Group's nearby Bibemi project. However, it highlighted the potential for cement-quality limestone within the licence area;

·    Thirteen out of fourteen rock chip samples from outcropping limestone returned suitable chemistry to be classified as high-grade carbonate material, suitable for use within the cement industry;

·    The cement industry in Cameroon is believed to be worth in the order of £700 million per year, largely supported by the import of clinker, a raw material made from cement-quality limestone;

·    Oriole submitted a formal request for a change of substance at the Wapouzé licence area from gold to industrial minerals, which has now been approved by the Ministry of Mines;

·    The licence is currently undergoing a renewal process and is now with the Presidency for approval;

·    Once the renewal is granted, Oriole will look to secure an industrial minerals partner to develop the Wapouzé project through to exploitation on an expedited basis;

·    Oriole is looking to secure a royalty-based payment on the material extracted to help provide an income stream in Cameroon.

Oriole Resources CEO, Tim Livesey, said: "Once the team identified the potential for cement-grade limestone deposits on the Wapouzé licence, we shifted focus and moved to evaluate alternative routes to deliver value, besides our primary goal of gold exploration in Cameroon.

"With the potential to deliver feedstock for the cement industry in this region, we hope to attract a local industry partner for Wapouzé. By realising the alternative value from this licence, we hope to provide ongoing funding to support our future gold exploration programmes at both Bibemi and in the Central Licence Package."

Further Details

At the Wapouzé project, located 20 kilometres ('km') to the north of the Company's more advanced Bibemi gold project, soil sampling programmes undertaken in 2019 identified multiple gold-in-soil anomalies within the Bataol Zone in the north-east, including an 8km-long northeast-trending anomaly, which returned up to 531 parts per billion ('ppb') gold ('Au') (0.53 grammes per tonne ('g/t') Au), and a parallel 2.8km-long anomaly (Announcements dated 18 March 2019 and 6 June 2019).

Two trenching programmes were conducted in 2021; a pilot trenching programme of three trenches (WPT001 to WPT003) which did not return any significant intersections (Announcement dated 6 April 2021), and a further five trenches (WPT004 to WPT008) at regional spacing of 500 meters ('m') to 1km and totalling 2,524m. This second phase of trenching returned best intersections of 2.00m at 4.06 g/t Au (WPT007), 1.50m at 0.53 g/t Au and 2.00m at 0.50 g/t Au (WPT008), and 2.00m at 0.53 g/t Au (WPT006) (Announcement dated 9 February 2022).

During 2022, the team conducted a comprehensive review of the trenching data, and all historical data available for Wapouzé, concluding that the project area was less prospective for gold than Bibemi. However, the data highlighted that the large quantity of carbonate material outcropping within the licence area, as previously identified by geological mapping (Announcement dated 18 March 2019), could be suitable for industrial use and therefore presented an attractive commercial opportunity for the Company.

During 2022, a series of 14 rock chip samples over carbonate outcrops (mapped as marble and metamorphosed limestone) were collected and analysed by lab-based X-ray fluorescence (XRF) to assess their suitability for use in the cement industry. All samples contained appropriate concentrations of silica ('SiO₂') ranging from <0.01 percentage by weight ('wt%') to 1.58 wt%. 13 of the 14 samples returned low magnesium oxide ('MgO') concentrations (0.40 - 0.8 wt%) and high calcium oxide ('CaO') concentrations (54.2 - 55.3 wt%) (Table 1). 13 of the 14 samples would therefore be classified as high-grade carbonate material suitable for use in cement production. The single sample that did not fit these criteria had high MgO and low CaO concentrations, indicating dolomitised material which, based on ground-truthing by the team, is believed to cover only a localised area of limited extent.

Table 1: Summary of the XRF results for fourteen rock chips from the Wapouze licence area

Sample type	Number of samples	Average CaO (wt%)	Average SiO2 (wt%)	Average MgO (wt%)
Carbonate	13	54.6	0.66*	0.66
Carbonate (partial dolomitization)	1	32.4	1.53	19.1
* one sample returned SiO2 < detection limit of 0.01 wt%, value was replaced with 0.005 wt% for the average calculation

Due to the confirmation of high-grade carbonate material within the licence area, and the gold potential being significantly lower than at the Bibemi and the CLP projects, Oriole proceeded to apply for a change of commodity for the Wapouzé licence. Oriole has been informed that the change has been approved by the Ministry of Mines; however, a wider licence renewal process is now underway and is awaiting approval by the Secretary General of the Presidency of Cameroon.

Once the renewal has been approved, Oriole will look to secure a partner that will advance the project towards resource definition, development and exploitation on an expedited basis. Oriole is ultimately looking to achieve a royalty-based payment for the Project, likely based upon volume of material extracted, which would provide in-country revenue that can be redirected towards its gold and lithium-based exploration at Bibemi and the CLP.

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

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, @OrioleResources on Twitter, or contact:

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

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 at 2.19g/t 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 in the Senala Exploration Licence by spending US$4 million and has the option to spend up to a further US$4 million by 28 February 2024 to earn an additional 19% interest in the licence. A Reverse Circulation drilling programme is planned for Q4, 2023 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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