Oriole Resources PLC (LSE:ORR, FRA:S1Y) said it was very encouraged by drilling results from the Assaleyta and Hesdaba gold projects in Djibouti, East Africa.
At Assaleyta, results from a further two drill holes continued to demonstrate the significant potential at the project, with a best intersection of 38.10 metres grading 2.21 grammes per tonne (g/t) gold, including 17.37 metres at 3.59 g/t from the Porcupine Hill prospect, it said.
While at Hesdaba, selective sampling of hole Hd-D-17 returned 19.80 metres grading 1.18 g/t gold from a depth of 79.30 metres and 10.75 metres grading 26.27 g/t gold from 108.25 metres including a bonanza intersection of 1.22 metres at 211.00 g/t gold.
"We are very encouraged to see continued success from the exploration programmes in Djibouti,” said chief executive Tim Livesey. “These recently reported results confirm the opportunity for grading intersections of significant width, further de-risking this 'new frontier' project.”
African Minerals Exploration & Development Fund III (AMED) is managing and funding the exploration programme. The first and second tranches of the funding, totalling US$5mln, were used to undertake drilling at the Pandora, Assaleyta and Hesdaba projects.
Following completion of the second tranche of funding, Oriole's interest in the Djibouti projects, held though Thani Stratex Djibouti Ltd (TSD), has been reduced to 9.21%. Oriole considers this interests to be no longer material to the group and as a result will stop releasing regular exploration updates on the projects.
AMED has approved a third round of financing and planning for a Phase 3 exploration programme is underway, with work scheduled to start in the fourth quarter.
"With the next tranche of investment about to be deployed, we are looking forward to reviewing the proposed exploration plan for the next phase of drilling, which we believe will move Djibouti a step closer to the development of a resource,” Livesey said.
"Whilst we will no longer be reporting regularly on the exploration results for TSD, we do believe that the ongoing exploration programmes are continuing to grow the value of the projects significantly."