Oriole Resources PLC (AIM:ORR) this week provided final drilling results from its maiden programme at the MB01 South target within the Mbe Project.
Executive director Claire Bay said the results confirmed further wide zones of mineralisation and endorsed the scale of the opportunity across the eastern CLP licence package. Bay added that previous intersections of 119.00 grams per tonne over one metre and 17.66 grams per tonne over three metres demonstrated the potential for higher-grade ore shoots within the system.
Bay joined the Proactive studio to share insights and findings from the programme to date, here we take a closer look at what was said.
Proactive: Claire, very good to speak with you. Could you give us an overview of the final drilling results of the Mbe Projects, and why they are significant?
Claire Bay: Good morning Stephen. Yes. As a reminder our maiden drilling program at Mbe was completed over the MB01 South target. And the last time we spoke, we just reported some of our highest gold intersections from the program, including 119 grams per tonne over a metre and 17.66 grams per tonne over three metres. That reflected the potential for higher grade ore shoots within the system.
So essentially sweeteners to the wider, lower grade envelopes of material we previously reported. These results have delivered further wide signs of mineralization from the last drill lines in the program, one that's extended the system by 100 metres to the south and the other by 100 metres to the west. On that western extension line, hole 24 has returned a number of intervals, including almost 30 metres at 0.8 grams per tonne gold within which we have approximately 14 metres at 1.4 grams per tonne gold.
Importantly, almost all the results from that hole fall outside of the current exploration target. And so in short, this morning's results have provided yet further endorsement for the scale of the opportunity at Mbe and indeed the wider package of licenses we have at eastern CLP.
Proactive: Claire what does the extension of mineralization outside the exploration targets and the system being open in all directions mean for Oriole Resources?
Claire Bay: Essentially, it means we're confident in delivering a healthy maiden mineral resource estimate for the MB01 South target. For context, the exploration target we published in July of this year was between 0.82 and 1.34 million ounces of gold for the entire MB01 prospect, of which MB01 South accounted for around 60% of that estimate. The drilling program we've just completed was entirely focused on MB01 South, and the results will be used to upgrade the exploration targets into the resource category.
The fact that the exploration target was already well supported by the data from the 2024 trenching program and the first 13 drill holes, means that we were already fairly confident that there would be a good level of conversion from exploration target to resources. And the results for the second half of the program that we've delivered since that exploration target was published have continued to underpin that model.
Today's results again, together with the results reported last month, show that we've still not found the edges of the system, which means that will have continued expansion potential as our exploration progresses.
Proactive: Clare, how's the company progressing towards the maiden mineral resource estimate at MB01 South, and what should investors expect in the fourth quarter of 2025?
Claire Bay: Now that we have full results in hand, everything has been passed over to our independent consultant, Forge International, who started to integrate that data into the existing exploration target model. And we'll be assessing which areas have enough sample support to upgrade that material into the resource category. Forge has already completed a successful site visit, and so this works now purely desk based and will be relatively quick.
As I mentioned just now, we're hoping for a strong level of conversion at MB01 South. And based on our results to date, we're expecting that any resources we publish will be open in all directions. Again, offering the potential for subsequent growth as we continue to explore. Of course, we also have the MB01 North Target, which is located just one kilometre to the north east of MB01 South.
That's not been drilled yet, and so it will remain in the exploration target category for now. But it's clearly a follow up target that could deliver even more ounces in the future.
Proactive: Claire, I hope you'll continue to keep us updated on progress.