Oriole Resources PLC (AIM:ORR), the AIM-quoted exploration company focussed on West Africa, has provided an update on ongoing activities at its 90%-owned exploration projects in Cameroon, which have resumed following the rainy season in the country.
The company is focused on the Bibemi gold orogenic project in the north of the country and the Central Licence Package (CLP) project in central Cameroon, which is prospective for gold and other valuable commodities.
In the statement, Oriole CEO Tim Livesey said "our teams will continue to focus on the existing newly identified targets in the Eastern CLP, as well as the more advance Bibemi project, and we look forward to reporting on our continued activities as we progress into the 2022/23 field season".
At Bibemi, on 10 October 2022, the company announced a JORC Exploration Target for Bakassi Zone 1 prospect of between six million tonnes and eight million tonnes at grades ranging from 1.50 to 1.70 grammes per tonne (g/t) of gold (Au) for between 290,000 and 440,000 Troy ounces (oz) Au.
A pit optimisation study and site visit are currently underway at Bibemi to upgrade a portion of the existing JORC Exploration Target to a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE), which is expected to be in the JORC Inferred category. The company said it anticipates announcing the maiden MRE before the end of this year;
An infill geophysics programme is planned for the first half of 2023, it added, to aid drill targeting at the remaining three prospects on the Bibemi licence as well as future resource-expansion activities.
At CLP, mapping and rock-chip sampling are currently underway at Mbe, one of five licences within the Eastern CLP block, where soil sampling to date has identified about a 12.5-kilometre (km) long by 3km wide gold-mineralised corridor.
Results from mapping over former soil sampling Grid 6 at Mbe have guided the selection of a further 495 (of a total 835) unanalysed samples that were collected during the 2021/22 field season and have the potential to extend the mineralisation at Mbe, the company said. The samples will be submitted for analysis shortly, with results anticipated in the first quarter of 2023.
Ground-based geophysics is planned at Mbe for Q1-2023 to help identify the structural control on the mineralisation.
At the Ndom licence, also in the Eastern CLP, Oriole said its team is currently completing a ground-truthing exercise to assess the potential for lithium-bearing pegmatites following anomalous geochemical data reported from the 2021/22 stream and soil programmes.
A further licence, Gamboukou, immediately to the south of Ndom, has recently been secured by the company for the exploration of gold, lithium and other elements and initial studies are underway. The total area under licence at the CLP now stands at 4,091 square kilometres.
The company noted that it is in discussion with the Mining Ministry of Cameroon in respect of temporarily suspending the three Western CLP licences, and all the company's operational and financial obligations thereunder, pending a resolution to the ongoing land access issues.