Exploration Confirms Significant Gold Anomalism

RNS Number : 1108F

Oriole Resources PLC

25 October 2018

 

25 October 2018

Oriole Resources PLC 

('Oriole Resources' or 'the Company')

Exploration Confirms Significant Gold Anomalism at Dalafin

Oriole Resources, the AIM-quoted exploration company operating in Africa and Europe, is pleased to announce results of systematic Air Core ('AC') drilling at its 85%-owned Dalafin project in the Kédougou-Kéniéba inlier of eastern Senegal, where IAMGOLD Corporation ('IAMGOLD') has the option to spend US$8M to earn a 70% interest (announcement dated 1 March 2018). In Q2 2018, IAMGOLD commenced a fully carried multi-phase drilling programme on the southernmost Madina Bafé prospect (announcement dated 31 May 2018) which lies c.12km to the west-northwest of IAMGOLD's 2.49Moz (Indicated) Boto gold project ('Boto'), where the geological setting is similar, including the presence of quartz-tourmaline veins. IAMGOLD's recently completed Feasibility Study at Boto has delivered significantly improved project economics and it will shortly apply for a mining licence (IAMGOLD announcement dated 22 Oct 2018).

Highlights

·     2,428m AC drilling completed in 552 holes at Madina Bafé propsect;

·     Best results include 2.48 g/t Au and 0.66 g/t Au;

·     Broadly WNW-trending anomaly (>20ppb Au) identified over 1.5 km in south-east of Madina Bafé  - coincident with bismuth and molybdenum amonalism and confirms mineralised trend previously reported by Oriole;

·     Second N-S trending gold anomaly (>20 ppb Au) located 2 km to the NW extends over 400 m and has confirmed earlier termite anomalism reported by Oriole;

·     Sampling of artisanal mining sites during AC drill pad construction has returned 4.11 g/t Au, 1.2 g/t Au and 0.59 g/t Au from grab samples of sheared quartz-tourmaline veins within a granite-granodiorite contact in the north-east;

·     3,000m reverse cirulation ('RC') drilling programme to commence in November to test newly generated targets as well as along strike from mineralised holes previously reported by Oriole;

·     500m follow-up diamond drilling will be conducted to confirm higher grade results from Oriole's earlier RC and diamond drilling;

·     IAMGOLD's Feasibility Study on Boto delivers excellent project economics - including a post-tax IRR of 23% and NPV^(6%) of US$261M - and supports its long-term commitment to the region.

Oriole Resources CEO, Tim Livesey, said: "We are very glad to see IAMGOLD progressing so quickly with their earn-in on Dalafin and are especially pleased that the initial AC drilling campaign has been successful in 'seeing-through' the lateritic cover, identifying broad zones of anomalous gold mineralisation as well as higher grade samples that could indicate a feeder zone at depth. These encouraging results have not only supported previous work by Oriole but have importantly also identified new targets.  Both will be the focus of deeper, follow-up RC and diamond drilling, commencing next month.  We look forward to updating our shareholders as data from this ongoing exploration programme is received.

The excellent project economics published by IAMGOLD on Tuesday on the neighbouring Boto licence supports their long-term commitment to the region, including their announcement of the application for a mining licence over Boto, during Q4 2018. We hope that continued positive results from our Dalafin licence will enable our project to become a more significant part of this growth strategy around the Boto project."

Further Information

Previous exploration work conducted by Oriole at the southernmost prospect at the Dalafin project, Madina Bafé, has included trenching, mapping, and sampling programmes that have confirmed the presence of a 1,200 m x 30-45 m northeast-striking mineralised zone in the south-east of the prospect, with mineralisation comprising sheeted tourmaline-quartz veins and quartz-tourmaline breccias.

IAMGOLD has completed an initial 2,428m Air Core ('AC') drilling programme at the Madina Bafé prospect. All holes were drilled vertically for between depths of 1 and 12 metres, on a 50m by 200m line spacing to target the sheared contact zones between granites and meta-sediments. All samples were collected over intervals of 1 metre at the bedrock interface in order to assess the geochemical signature of the bedrock, help depict alteration corridors and mineralisation trends, and define targets for follow-up deeper drilling.

Results have been received for 612 samples from Bureau Veritas laboratory in Cote d'Ivoire, including 78 QAQC samples (12.5% of total), and were analysed for multi-element geochemistry and low-level gold (2ppb detection limit). One duplicate sample was collected per 40 samples and standards and blanks were inserted every ten samples; blanks comprised sterile material from termite mounds, whilst the standard samples reflected a range of certified reference material (low and high-grade). Analysis of the QAQC data has not highlighted any issues with the accuracy or precision of the data.

Best results include 2.48 g/t Au and 0.66 g/t Au; 14 samples assayed greater than 50 ppb, and 42 samples over 20 ppb Au. They have outlined a 1.5km broadly WNW-trending gold anomaly (>20ppb) in the south-east of the prospect at the contact between a granite/granodiorite unit and sediments. The gold anomalism is coincident with strong bismuth (>0.5ppm) and molybdenum (>3 ppm) anomalism which may reflect intersections with NE trending structures. The zone of anomalism overlies Oriole's previous diamond drill hole MBDD-002 that returned 9.6 m @ 16.08 g/t Au (Announcement dated 16 July 2014).

A second, 400m N-S anomaly (>20ppb) has been defined c.600m to the NNW of Oriole RC drillhole MRC117, which returned 15m @ 6.10 g/t Au (Announcement dated 16 July 2014), and correlates well with previous termite sampling results (Announcements dated 20 August 2012 and 4 December 2012). Based on the structural interpretation, this zone appears to mark the intersection of NE- and E-W trending faults.

Following integration of the new data with existing Oriole data, IAMGOLD will commence a 3,000m RC campaign in November to test both of these anomalies, as well as the strike extensions of some of the previous mineralised holes reported by Oriole.

A further 500m diamond drilling campaign will be used to validate previous best intersection reported by Oriole, namely holes MBDD-002 (9.6m@16.08g/t) and MBRC-117 (15m@6.10g/t).

For further information, including a map showing the gold anomalism defined at Madina Bafé and JORC Table 1 please see the Dalafin page of our website https://orioleresources.com/projects/dalafin/.

Deal Terms

Under the terms of the Agreement, AGEM Senegal Exploration Suarl ('AGEM'), a wholly-owned subsidiary of IAMGOLD, is earning-in to an initial 51% interest in the Project by expending US$4m on exploration over 4 years and has the further option to increase its interest to 70% by expending an additional US$4m over the subsequent 2 years. IAMGOLD is initially focusing on exploring the southernmost Madina Bafé prospect which is contiguous with its Boto gold project.

Boto Feasibility Study Results

At the Boto gold project, located c.12 km east-southeast of Madina Bafé, IAMGOLD has recently announced significantly improved project economics. Key highlights are as follows (IAMGOLD announcement dated 22 October 2018):

·      Proven and Probable Reserves ('P&P') increased by 0.51 Moz to 1.93 Moz grading 1.71 g/t Au versus the P&P Reserves reported in the previous Pre-Feasibility Study ('PFS');

·      Indicated Resources (including Reserves) of 2.49 Moz grading 1.61 g/t Au;

·      Mine Life of 12.8 years with mill throughput of 2.75 Mt per annum;

·      Life of Mine ('LOM') average annual production of 140,000 ounces, averaging 160,000 ounces annually during the first six years;

·      LOM cash costs of US$714/oz and all-in sustaining costs of US$753/oz;

·      After-tax Internal Rate of Return of 23%, with a payback period of 3.4 years;

·      Net Present Value of US$261 million (6% discount rate) at a gold price of US$1,250/oz;

·      Initial capital expenditures of US$254 million

IAMGOLD has indicated that they will apply for a mining licence over Boto in Q4-2018.

Competent Persons Statement 

The information in this release that relates to Exploration Results has been compiled by, and is based on information reviewed on behalf of the Company, by Claire Bay (VP Exploration & Business Development). Claire Bay (MGeol, CGeol, EurGeol, FIMMM) is a Competent Person as defined as defined in the JORC code and takes responsibility for the release of this information. The exploration on the Dalafin Project was carried out by AGEM, a wholly-owned subsidiary of IAMGOLD, and the results have not yet been made public. Claire Bay 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 **

For further information please visit www.orioleresources.com, @OrioleResources on Twitter, or contact:

Oriole Resources PLC Tim Livesey / Bob Smeeton / Claire Bay	Tel: [phone]
Camarco (IR/PR contact) Gordon Poole / Nick Hennis / Monique Perks	Tel: [phone]
Grant Thornton UK LLP Samantha Harrison / Ben Roberts / Samuel Rowe	Tel: [phone]
Hannam & Partners Neil Passmore / Andrew Chubb	Tel: [phone]
Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Ltd Ben Turner / James Pope / Andy Thacker	Tel: [phone]

Notes to Editors:

Oriole Resources PLC is an AIM-listed exploration company, operating in Africa and Europe. It is focused on early-stage exploration in Cameroon and the more advanced Dalafin gold project in Senegal, where IAMGOLD has the option to spend US$8m to earn a 70% interest. The Company has a number of interests and royalties in companies operating throughout Africa and Turkey and is assessing new opportunities in both regions.

 

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