Exploration Update: Central Licence Package

RNS Number : 3457M

Oriole Resources PLC

23 May 2022

 

Oriole Resources PLC

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

Exploration Update: Central Licence Package, Cameroon

Oriole Resources (AIM: ORR), the AIM-quoted exploration company focussed on West Africa, is pleased to provide an update on its 90%-owned Central Licence Package ('CLP' or the 'Package') in Central Cameroon. The district-scale CLP comprises eight contiguous licences covering 3,592 square kilometres ('km2') of previously unexplored Paleo-Proterozoic to Pan-African age rocks that are highly prospective for orogenic-style gold mineralisation.

Highlights

· Sampling of the remaining four 'Priority 1' grids is now complete for a further 3,114 samples (including QAQC);

· Samples for Grid 2 and Grid 4 have been dispatched for analysis and results are anticipated by the end of Q2 / early Q3;

· Sampling has also been completed for a further 1,239 samples (including QAQC) over an extensional grid ('Grid 6') at the Mbe licence, along strike from where the Company previously reported a best result of 838 parts per billion ('ppb') gold ('Au') from a circa 11.5 kilometres ('km') anomalous gold-in-soil zone (announcement dated 14 March 2022);

· Multi-element review of the pilot area has identified a number of pathfinder elements that will aid future targeting;

· A technical study is underway to compare laboratory and handheld X-ray fluorescence ('XRF') data to help reduce the time and cost of multi-element analysis going forward;

· Geological line mapping over the Mbe anomaly is approximately 70% complete;

· A further licence, 'Maboum', has been applied for to the east of the CLP and is contiguous with the existing package. The licence application is now live on the Cameroon Mining cadastre;

· A series of maps and images can be viewed at the following link:
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/3457M_1-2022-5-22.pdf

Oriole Resources CEO, Tim Livesey, said : "It's great to see such good progress from our early-stage sampling programmes on the eastern CLP prospects. The field crews have been busy with mapping and sample collection - the boots on the ground de-risking that every project requires in the early stages of exploration - trying to cover as much ground as possible before the rains restrict access.  

"Orientation work, utilising multi element data, is providing interesting leads, and the potential for identification of overprinting mineralised systems adds a further layer of opportunity. 

"Through this work, we are seeing yet more evidence that this package of licences has great potential to be a new gold district. 

"With ongoing mapping, and more sample results in the pipeline, we look forward to updating the markets as we continue to unlock the Project's exploration potential."

Further Details

In Q1 2021, the Company's 90%-owned Cameroonian subsidiary, Oriole Cameroon SARL, was granted five new licences (Tenekou, Niambaram, Pokor, Ndom, and Mbe) in central Cameroon, located to the west of the regional capital, Ngaoundéré (announcement dated 3 February 2021). Together with a further three new licences (Mana, Dogon, and Sanga) granted to Reservoir Minerals Cameroon SARL, in which the Company has subsequently earned a 90% interest (announcement dated 6 April 2021), the CLP covers a contiguous, district-scale land package of 3,592km2.   

Covering Paleo-Proterozoic to Neoproterozoic (including Pan-African) age rocks, well-known hosts for orogenic gold deposits both in West Africa and worldwide, the CLP licences were initially targeted by the Company's technical team due to their apparent proximity to the dominant regional structure, the Tcholliré-Banyo Shear Zone ('TBSZ'), a major southwest-northeast-trending splay off the larger-scale Central African Shear Zone. The TBSZ and its associated shears, thrusts and faults are (according to academic literature) thought to be one of the significant structural controls for gold and other mineralisation in the region.

In Q4 2021, the Company commenced semi-regional soil sampling over five priority grids designed to target the source of gold-anomalous stream sediment results identified earlier that year (announcements dated 6 October 2021 and 2 November 2021). Results for the first grid, the 'Pilot Area', returned up to 838 ppb Au and outlined multiple gold in soil anomalies greater than 2.5km in strike length, the most significant of which is a circa 11.5km long east-northeast trending anomalous zone in the Mbe licence (announcement dated 14 March 2022).

Multi-element results have now also been received for the Pilot Area and they confirm that the gold mineralisation is associated with the pathfinder elements antimony ('Sb'), tungsten ('W') and tellurium ('Te') and, to a lesser extent, arsenic ('As'), and bismuth ('Bi'). The correlation of gold with Sb and Te is particularly evident at Mbe.

A technical study is currently underway to compare the laboratory-derived multi-element results for 308 stream sediment samples and 370 soil sediment samples with those of a handheld XRF spectrometer that has been loaned to the Company. Subject to the accuracy and precision of the XRF results compared to the laboratory data, the Company intends to buy its own handset which would lead to a significant reduction in cost and time for multi-element data acquisition going forward.

Sampling is now also complete over the four remaining Priority 1 grids (Grid 2 to Grid 5), for a further 3,114 samples (including QAQC), and for 1,270 samples (including QAQC) over Grid 6 that was planned to test the westward extent of the anomalous zone at Mbe. All sampling was completed at a spacing of 400 metres ('m') by 200m and samples for Grid 2 and Grid 4 have already been dispatched for analysis; results are anticipated by the end of Q2 / early Q3.

The team is also undertaking geological mapping over the Mbe soil anomalism, on a 200m line spacing. With the programme approximately 70% complete, the predominant lithologies encountered to date are gneisses and granites, with brecciated quartz veins (hosted within greenschist to amphibolite-altered gneiss) found sub-cropping/outcropping within the western part of the circa 11.5km anomalous zone.

On the basis of the positive results to date, the Company has taken the opportunity to expand its position in Cameroon by applying for a further licence immediately to the east of, and contiguous with, the existing CLP footprint and therefore the 11.5km gold-in-soil anomalism at Mbe. The Maboum licence application, which covers an area of 487 km2, has been formally registered by the Ministry of Mines and is available to view on the Cameroon Mining Cadastre. A successful application would see the Company's total holding in Cameroon, including the Bibemi and Wapouzé licences in northern Cameroon, increased to almost 4,400km2.

For further information on the Central Licence Package, 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 information in this release that relates to Exploration Results has been compiled by Claire Bay (Executive Director, Exploration & 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 by the Company 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. Following the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

** ENDS **

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

Oriole Resources PLC Bob Smeeton / Tim Livesey / Claire Bay	Tel: [phone]
BlytheRay (IR/PR contact) Tim Blythe / Megan Ray / Rachael Brooks	Tel: [phone]
Grant Thornton UK LLP Samantha Harrison / George Grainger / Ciara Donnelly	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 in West Africa. It is focussed on early-stage exploration in Cameroon (Bibemi, Wapouzé and Central Licence Package 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. Under the terms of the Option Agreement, IAMGOLD has recently met its first commitment by spending US$4 million within an initial four years and will shortly acquire a 51% interest in Senala. The Company also 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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