Oriole Resources PLC 

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

Maiden JORC Resource for Bibemi Gold Project in Cameroon

305,000 oz grading 2.19 g/t gold Inferred

Oriole Resources PLC, the AIM-quoted gold exploration company focussed on West Africa, is pleased to report a maiden Inferred JORC-compliant Mineral Resource Estimate ('MRE' or the 'Resource') of 305,000 Troy ounces ('oz') grading 2.19 grammes per tonne ('g/t') gold ('Au') for Bakassi Zone 1, one of four prospects at its 90%-owned Bibemi orogenic gold project ('Bibemi' or the 'Project') in Cameroon.

Highlights

·    A pit optimisation study has been completed to upgrade a portion of the previously-reported JORC Exploration Target for the Bakassi Zone 1 prospect (announcement dated 10 October 2022) to a maiden JORC Resource;

·  The pit-constrained Resource is estimated to be 4.3 million tonnes grading 2.19 g/t Au for approximately 305,000 oz Au in the JORC Inferred Resources category;

·    The entire Resource has been defined within the limit of a US$1,800/oz gold price pit shell;

·    The Resource has been modelled over a strike length of 1,220 metres ('m') and to a depth of 260m below surface, using a cut-off grade of 0.30 g/t Au and a top-cut of 20 g/t Au;

·   The residual JORC Exploration Target, not including the Resource blocks, is estimated to be between 1.5 and 2.2 million tonnes at grades ranging from 1.10 to 2.10 g/t for between an additional 53,000 and 148,000 oz of Au^[[1]];

·    Both estimates remain open at depth and along strike to the northeast;

·  The Resource and updated Exploration Target have been compiled for Oriole by independent consultant Forge International Limited ('Forge'), who has recently completed a site visit to Bibemi in accordance with JORC guidelines;

·   There exists significant potential to expand the MRE at Bakassi Zone 1 and to identify additional resources at the other three prospects on the licence, Bakassi Zone 2, Lawa West and Lawa East, which are all located within a few kilometres ('km') of Bakassi Zone 1;

·    An infill geophysics programme is planned for H1-2023, to aid drill targeting at the remaining three prospects on the Bibemi licence as well as future Resource-expansion activities.

Figure 1                   3D Isometric view of the Resource blocks within U$1,800/oz pit shell

Figure 2                   Cross section (looking northeast) through the core zone (fence line BZ1_P2_L3) of the Exploration Target model for Bakassi Zone 1, showing drill holes and mineralised domains.

Figure 3                   Plan view showing the block model with U$1800/oz Resource pit shell, and drill holes used to estimate the Bakassi Zone 1

Oriole CEO, Tim Livesey, said: "An excellent early result from the past season's drilling at the Bakassi Zone 1 prospect on our Bibemi licence in Cameroon, which we believe is the first ever JORC MRE for orogenic gold in Cameroon.

"We are very pleased to have delivered an initial JORC MRE of significant size in a cost-effective manner and within such a short timeframe, despite the impacts of the covid pandemic. 

"This was the first drilling ever carried out at Bibemi and it clearly demonstrates the massive opportunity that exists in this underexplored region.

"The Bakassi Zone 1 prospect is open at depth with the current Resource model reaching down to 260m. It is also open along strike to the north-east and there is additional potential within three kilometres of this initial pit design at the Bakassi Zone 2, Lawa West and Lawa East prospects. Collectively these prospects have the potential to deliver many more ounces.

"We are delighted that our early move into Cameroon continues to deliver success, both here at Bibemi and in the expansive Central Licence Package. The Oriole team identified the critical mineralising controls following the early work of mapping and trenching.  The first phases of prospect drilling and the structural reviews of the oriented core drilling programme confirmed this, and the information has been used to deliver the JORC MRE.

"With obvious similarities to the extensive gold-in-soils anomalism identified in the last field season across our Central Licence Package, the Oriole team's exploration success at Bibemi reconfirms our commitment to Cameroon as a new frontier for gold exploration and mining.

"Cameroon has all the hallmarks of an underexplored mining district, with huge opportunity for early movers such as Oriole Resources." 

Further Details

At the Bibemi orogenic gold project in northern Cameroon (177km² in area), the Company's exploration to date has identified shear-hosted gold mineralisation at four main prospects - Bakassi Zone 1, Bakassi Zone 2, Lawa West and Lawa East - within a circa 12 km-long mineralised hydrothermal system at surface. Since Q1-2021, the Company has completed four phases of diamond drilling at the Project for a total of 6,685.40m in 54 holes. The majority of the drilling has been focussed on a circa 1 km section at the southern end of Bakassi Zone 1 and has delivered best intersections of 14.80m grading 4.27 g/t Au and 7.70m grading 2.74 g/t Au (hole BBDD050), 6.50m grading 3.92 g/t Au (hole BBDD034), 5.20m grading 1.97 g/t Au (hole BBDD031), and 9.20m grading 1.31 g/t Au (hole BBDD042) (announcements dated 20 December 2021, 9 February 2022 and 15 September 2022). The mineralised corridor at Bakassi Zone 1 has been confirmed up to 150m wide and contains a package of steeply-dipping quartz-tourmaline veins as well as extensional, sub-horizontal quartz veins.

Figure 4   Bibemi drill plan showing key prospects and collar locations

In October 2022, the Company reported a maiden JORC Exploration Target for Bakassi Zone 1 of between six million tonnes and eight million tonnes at grades ranging from 1.50 to 1.70 g/t Au for between 290,00 and 440,000 oz Au. 

The Company today reports that Forge, together with its associate Axe Valley Mining Consultants Ltd, has completed a Competent Persons site visit and a pit optimisation study to enable the conversion of a portion of that Exploration Target into a maiden Resource of 305,000 oz Au grading 2.19 g/t Au in the Inferred category, based on a 0.30 g/t Au cut off and within a US$1,800/oz gold price pit shell (Table 1).

Table 1. Resource tabulation for Bakassi Zone 1 using a 0.30 g/t Au cut off and within a US$1,800/oz pit shell

Notes:

·      The Operator of the Bibemi Project is Oriole Resources PLC.

·      The Resource Estimate is shown on a gross (100%) basis of the Bakassi Zone 1 target within the Bibemi Project. Oriole currently holds a 90% net attributable beneficial interest through the licence holding company, Reservoir Minerals Cameroon SARL. The remaining 10% interest is held by Bureau d'Etudes et d'Investigations Géologico-minières, Géotechniques et Géophysiques SARL ('BEIG3'), the Company's JV partner.

·    All figures are rounded to reflect the relative accuracy of the estimate. Differences may occur due to rounding.

·      Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and have not demonstrated economic viability. It is uncertain if further exploration will convert Inferred Mineral Resources to higher confidence categories.

·      To define the blocks with reasonable prospects of economic extraction, the Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate is reported above a cut-off grade of 0.30 g/t and constrained within wireframe models representing the mineralised bodies and within a Lerchs-Grossman optimised pit shell based on a gold price of US$1,800 / oz, with the application of reasonable mining parameters.

·    The Resource estimate has an effective date of 7 December 2022.

·      The Resource has been estimated by Mr. Robert Davies, EurGeol, CGeol, a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves' (The JORC code).

Figure 5                   Plan view showing Resource pit shell and blocks representing the Exploration Target

Figure 6                   Long section (looking southeast) showing Exploration Target blocks and pit constrained Inferred Resource blocks

This maiden Inferred Resource has been estimated using 28 diamond holes for a total of 3,840m. The Resource estimate is not sensitive to cut-off grade, as can be seen in the grade tonnage sensitivity shown in Table 2. 

Table 2. Grade tonnage sensitivity for Bakassi Zone 1 resource at 0.10 g/t Au intervals

The residual JORC Exploration Target, that is the portion of the original Exploration Target that could not be upgraded to an Inferred Resource based on current information, is estimated to be between 1.5 and 2.2 million tonnes at grades ranging from 1.10 to 2.10 g/t for between 53,000 and 148,000 oz of Au (Table 3). The residual Exploration Target is along strike of the Resource in areas of the deposit where there is insufficient sample support to be Classified as Inferred Resource. With infill drilling it is hoped that the size and confidence level of the existing Resource will be increased to incorporate some of the additional ounces.  

The JORC Exploration Target comprises 3D wireframe volumes based on geological mapping, available drilling data and cross-section interpretations. A density of 2.85 tonnes per metre cubed ('t/m³'), which represents the mean density of the 150 density records that are contained within the mineralisation wireframe models, has been used for the Exploration Target calculations.

Table 3. Exploration Target for Bakassi Zone 1 (in addition to the Inferred Resource)

Notes:

·      The Exploration Target is an estimate of the exploration potential of the Bakassi Zone 1 mineral deposit.

·     The Exploration Target has been generated using 28 diamond holes totalling 3,840m of drilling. The Exploration Target has been prepared by wireframe modelling of mineralised bodies, using a 0.1 g/t cut-off and following the geological and structural interpretation for the deposit. The estimate has been limited to a depth of 200m below the current topography. The grade is presented as a range of approximately 20% above and 20% below the actual grade estimated using an inverse distance weighting interpolation, applying a cut-off of 0.3 g/t gold. A density of 2.85t/m³ has been used throughout. All figures are rounded to reflect the relative accuracy of the estimate.

·     The Exploration Target estimate covers a strike length of approximately 1,200m. Drill holes have been completed at a spacing of between 35m and 115m on fence lines that are mostly between 90m and 130m apart. All of the data has been used to create wireframe models and a block model.

·      The potential quantity and grade of the Exploration Target is conceptual in nature. 

·     There has been insufficient exploration to estimate a Mineral Resource for all target areas reported. It is proposed that such areas are tested with infill Diamond and/or Reverse Circulation drilling although it is uncertain at this stage whether further exploration will result in the estimation of a Mineral Resource.

·      The Exploration Target has been estimated by Mr. Robert Davies, EurGeol, CGeol., a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves' (The JORC code).

As previously reported, the Company anticipates completing an infill geophysics (magnetic) survey during the first half of 2023 to help the team develop its Resource-expansion activities.

For further information on the Bibemi project, including a JORC Table 1, please see the following page of the Company's website https://orioleresources.com/projects/bibemi/. 

Competent Persons Statement 

The information in this announcement that relates to the Mineral Resources and Exploration Targets is based on data compiled by Mr. Robert Davies, EurGeol, CGeol, an independent consultant to Oriole. Mr Davies is a Director of Forge International Limited. Mr Davies has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the "Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves". Mr Davies consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.

The technical information in this release that relates to Exploration Results and the planned exploration programme has been compiled by Claire Bay (Executive Director, Exploration and 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 to constitute inside information as stipulated under the retained EU law version of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 (the "UK MAR") which is part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. The information is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of the UK MAR. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

Glossary

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

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Notes to Editors:

Oriole Resources PLC is an AIM-listed gold exploration company, operating in West Africa. It is focussed on early-stage exploration in Cameroon, where the Company has recently reported a maiden Resource of 305,000 oz Au in the JORC Inferred category at the Bibemi project and has identified multi-kilometre gold and lithium anomalism within the district-scale Central Licence Package project. At the more advanced Senala gold project in Senegal, IAMGOLD is the operator and 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 in East Africa and Turkey that could deliver future cash flow.

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