CatalystWireBeta

Mbe Exploration Update - MB01 Trenching Results

In brief · summary, not quotable

No summary for this filing – the full text is below.

Full announcement

Select text to share a quote on X · sign in to keep highlights & notes in your ORR notes

Oriole Resources (AIM: ORR), the AIM-quoted gold exploration company focussed on West and Central Africa, is pleased to provide an exploration update for its 80%-owned Mbe gold project in the Adamawa region of Cameroon ('Mbe' or the 'Project'), where BCM International Limited ('BCM') is currently funding up to US$4 million in exploration expenditure.

Mbe is just one of five licences within the Company's broader package of contiguous exploration licences, the 'Eastern CLP', which covers 2,266 square kilometres ('km2') of ground prospective for gold deposits.

Highlights

  • Initial results for three of the first nine (Phase 1) trenches, approximately 200 metres ('m') apart (targeting the 0.95 kilometre ('km')-long MB01-N sub-prospect), include the following best channel sample intersections (north to south):

o Trench MBT001 - 50.00m at 1.11 grammes per tonne ('g/t') gold ('Au'), including 20.00m at 2.23g/t Au;

o Trench MBT003 - 68.00m at 0.77g/t Au, including 12.00m at 1.00g/t Au, 24.00m at 1.18g/t Au;

o Trench MBT002 - 38.00m at 0.55g/t Au.

  • Intersections correlate well with the previously reported gold-in-soil anomalism (announcement dated 4 June 2024), with all three being associated with a mineralised and sheared felsic porphyry unit with mafic xenoliths.
  • Further results from the remaining trenches are expected to be released over the next few weeks.
  • The trenching results will inform the planning of the maiden drilling programme to be conducted in the 2024/2025 field season.

Chief Executive Officer of Oriole Resources, Martin Rosser, said: "These trenching results are highly encouraging, being over substantial widths and supporting our learned opinion that Mbe is a potentially significant gold discovery. The remaining trench sampling results are eagerly anticipated so we can commence planning for the maiden drilling programme."

Figure 1. Trenching intervals from MBT001 to MBT003 at MB01-N, presented on the 100m x 25m soil survey contours and Maxar satellite imagery. Note Phase 1 trenches are at ~200m spacing, with Phase 2 infill trenches (MBT010 to MBT014) reducing the spacing to 100m.

Mbe (licence area 312km2) is an orogenic gold project at an early-stage of exploration, located within the broader 2,266km2 'Eastern CLP' package of five contiguous gold-focussed exploration licences in the Adamawa region in central Cameroon. Since 2022, the Company's systematic exploration programmes have identified a 3km-long, northeast-trending prospect, named MB01 (the 'Prospect'), which sits within a wider 12.5km-long zone of gold-in-soil anomalism that trends east-northeast.

At MB01, increased dilation at the sites of structural intersections has resulted in enhanced levels of gold deposition at the MB01-N and MB01-S targets. Gold mineralisation at these targets comprises high-grade, sulphide-rich quartz veins that occur within, or at the contact with, an intensely altered felsic unit, which itself is mineralised and creates wide envelopes of pervasive, lower grade gold mineralisation. Rock-chip sampling to date has delivered results of up to 260.03g/t Au from outcropping quartz veins, and up to 25.16g/t Au from artisanal pits (announcements dated 30 January 2023, 27 February 2023, 21 June 2023 and 22 January 2024).

Results from 4,537 infill soil samples (taken on a 100m x 25m grid, including QAQC) over the Prospect, delivered up to 8,174 parts per billion ('ppb') (8.17g/t) Au and identified three substantial zones of in-situ gold mineralisation, the most significant being at MB01-S, where a greater than 100 ppb Au soil anomaly extends over an area of 1.15km by up to 0.75km.

Following on from the infill soil programme at MB01, two phases of trenching for a total of 7,055m have been completed. This programme targeted the soil anomalism over the MB01-N and MB01-S sub-prospects, where access and ground conditions have allowed:

o A Phase 1 maiden trenching programme of 5,338m over nine trenches (MBT001 to MBT009), completed at a spacing of approximately 200m apart.

o A Phase 2 infill programme of further seven trenches (MBT010 to MBT016), completed for 1,717m, reducing the above spacing to approximately 100m over key zones of the soil anomalies.

Figure 2. Trench plan showing the location of Phase 1 and Phase 2 trenches at MB01, in relation to gold-in-soil anomalism at the Prospect. Superimposed on Maxar satellite image background.

Sampling was completed as a continuous channel, with material being collected from the trench wall (30-40 centimetres from the trench floor) and from weathered, in-situ material, to negate contamination from the stone-line or near surface material. Each sample typically comprised material composited over 2m intervals, taking into account lithological boundaries.

Results for 1,357 samples (including QAQC) have been received for trenches MBT001 to MBT003. All samples were analysed for gold at Bureau Veritas in Abidjan using a fire assay with an atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) finish. A review of QAQC confirmed that all data falls within acceptable limits of error. Significant intersections (calculated using a 0.20g/t Au cut-off grade and with no more than 6m internal dilution) are presented in Table 1 below. The best results include 50.00m at 1.11 g/t Au (MBT001), 68.00m at 0.77g/t Au including 24.00m at 1.18g/t Au (MBT003), and 38.00m at 0.55g/t Au (MBT002).

Table 1. Calculated intersections for trenches MBT001 to MBT003 using a 0.20g/t Au cut-off grade and no more than 6.00m internal dilution. The most significant intersections are highlighted in bold.

Trench IDFrom (m)To (m)Grade (g/t Au)Intersection
MBT001198.00200.000.242.00m at 0.24 g/t Au
204.00206.000.322.00m at 0.32 g/t Au
224.00226.000.272.00m at 0.27 g/t Au
280.00282.000.262.00m at 0.26 g/t Au
314.00320.000.346.00m at 0.34 g/t Au
326.00328.000.262.00m at 0.26 g/t Au
338.00340.000.222.00m at 0.22 g/t Au
348.00352.000.794.00m at 0.79 g/t Au
including350.00352.001.302.00m at 1.30 g/t Au
356.00372.000.2916.00m at 0.29 g/t Au*
388.00396.000.378.00m at 0.37 g/t Au
400.00402.000.242.00m at 0.24 g/t Au
414.00464.001.1150.00 at 1.11 g/t Au
including432.00452.002.2320.00 at 2.23 g/t Au
MBT002340.00342.000.292.00m at 0.29 g/t Au
504.00510.000.206.00m at 0.20 g/t Au
530.00538.000.538.00m at 0.53 g/t Au
including530.00532.001.112.00m at 1.11 g/t Au
546.00554.000.238.00m at 0.23 g/t Au
558.00560.000.232.00m at 0.23 g/t Au
568.00576.000.738.00m at 0.73 g/t Au
including572.00576.001.004.00m at 1.00 g/t Au
594.00596.000.212.00m at 0.21 g/t Au
600.00638.000.5538.00m at 0.55 g/t Au*
including612.00614.000.652.00m at 1.16 g/t Au
and636.00638.001.932.00m at 1.93 g/t Au
MBT00356.0058.000.652.00m at 0.65 g/t Au
118.00120.000.242.00m at 0.24 g/t Au
188.00194.000.366.00m at 0.36 g/t Au
216.00218.000.472.00m at 0.47 g/t Au
448.00516.000.7668.00m at 0.77 g/t Au*
including452.00464.001.0012.00m at 1.00 g/t Au
and468.00470.001.682.00m at 1.68 g/t Au
and482.00506.001.1824.00m at 1.18 g/t Au
558.00562.000.454.00m at 0.45 g/t Au
670.00672.000.222.00m at 0.22 g/t Au

* intervals with up to 6m internal dilution

A geological review of trenches MBT001 to MBT003 has highlighted two main lithologies: amphibolite-gneisses and porphyritic felsic intrusions, also referred to as a 'quartz feldspar porphyry' or QFP. The intrusions are sheared and range in width from a few centimetres to tens of meters.

The widest intersections from all three trenches correlate with the previously identified 'main' QFP intrusion which exhibits strong silicification, moderate fracturing, quartz veins and veinlets with boxwork textures after pyrite. The fracture density is considered proportional to quartz vein thickness, with the thickest (metre scale) veins observed within areas of high fracture density in the QFP.

Figure 3. Trench MBT001 schematic cross-section covering 400m - 465m which hosts the 50.00m at 1.11g/t Au intersection from 414m. Most of the intersection is hosted by QFP but grades of up to 0.50g/t Au occur up to 10m from QFP, within areas of fracturing and strong silicification.

Interpretation of the geology, in particular the structural controls, for the remainder of the trenching programme is on-going, and will be presented alongside additional results later in Q3-2024. Samples for the Phase 2 infill trenching programme are also being processed with results to follow the Phase 1 programme.

The detailed understanding of the geology and structure of the deposit that will be obtained from the trenching data will be used to design a maiden drilling programme, which is expected to commence in the 2024/25 field season.

Oriole Resources PlcTel: +44 (0)23 8065 1649
Martin Rosser / Bob Smeeton / Claire Bay
BlytheRay (IR/PR Contact)Tel: +44 (0)20 7138 3204
Tim Blythe / Megan Ray
Grant Thornton UK LLPTel: +44 (0)20 7383 5100
Samantha Harrison / Ciara Donnelly / Elliot Peters
SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP Ewan LeggatTel: +44 (0)20 3470 0470

Cleaned text: letterheads, contacts and legal notices removed. View the original announcement ↗ · Company filings. Not investment advice.

Share this quote

Quote card
Post on X WhatsApp Download image

The link opens this announcement with the quote highlighted. Quotes are checked against the original text.

Add a note