Oriole Resources PLC reported sampling results for its 90%-owned Mbe orogenic gold project ('Mbe' or the 'Project') in Cameroon and that BCM International Limited ('BCM') has now confirmed it has completed its due-diligence review at the Project (announcement dated 20 November 2023). The Mbe project (312km2) is covered by one of five contiguous gold-focussed licences within the broader Eastern Central Licence Package ('Eastern CLP') in central Cameroon, a district-scale landholding covering 2,266km2 of highly-prospective geology. Following the initial identification of a c.12.5km-long zone of en-echelon gold-in-soil anomalies at Mbe during regional programmes, subsequent mapping and rock-chip sampling during 2023 identified a 3km-long geological zone containing areas of high-grade gold mineralisation that yielded results of up to 134.10 g/t Au from surface samples and artisanal workings (announcements dated 30 January 2023, 27 February 2023 and 21 June 2023).

This 3km-long zone, which trends northeast to north-northeast, comprises a (sinistral) shear-related QFP unit that is highly silicified and mineralised where the unit is cross-cut by east-northeast trending mineralised structures, and exhibits a wide halo of pervasive albite alteration. High-grade gold mineralization has been identified at two sites along the strike length, where these cross-cutting east-northeast veins (also with sinistral movement) intersect the QFP unit, creating zones of dilation. These cross-cutting, east-northeast veins correlate well with the gold-in-soil anomalism identified during Oriole's soil sampling programme in 2022.

In December 2023, BCM completed (at its own cost) a three-week long site visit to Mbe and collected 639 samples weighing 2-5 kilograms each over the 3km-long zone. Of these, 542 samples were collected from pits (5-10 metres deep and exclusively dug by artisanal miners) and 97 samples were collected from outcropping rocks. All of the pit samples were collected from in-situ (weathered saprolite or saprock) material, with composite channel-chip sampling being applied over the exposed pit wall (and perpendicular to the dominant vein set, where apparent) to ensure sample representivity.

Results have returned 155 samples grading=1 g/t Au, 13 of which have graded =10 g/t Au. Of these higher-grading samples, best results include 256.74 g/t, 133.44 g/t, 75.09 g/t, 33.66 g/t and 22.89 g/t Au from outcrop sampling, and 25.16 g/t, 23.97 g/t, 9.98 g/t, and 8.75 g/t Au from pit sampling. A further 232 samples graded between 0.20 and 0.99 g/t Au.

A review of the QAQC results related to these analyses has confirmed that all materials have reported within acceptable limits, although natural variation has resulted in some outliers in the field duplicate data, which is typical of these systems. The highest grades have been returned from smoky quartz veins and strongly silicified QFP host rocks, which commonly display stockwork veining and boxwork textures after pyrite. These samples also have an abundance of fine-grained aggregations of pyrite encapsulated by silica. The results provide further support for targets at MB01-N and MB01-S, where increased dilation (on the sites of structural intersections) has resulted in enhanced levels of gold deposition.

These zones extend over strike lengths of at least 650m and 750m respectively, and over widths of more than 500m. Importantly, the data shows that the plus 1 g/t Au grades persist outside of the discrete veins, extending well into the more weakly-altered QFP host rocks to create wider halos of pervasive mineralisation and alteration. Further testwork is ongoing, including preliminary metallurgical test work to ascertain the recoverability of the gold, but BCM has confirmed to Oriole that it's due-diligence review is now complete, with very positive results obtained.

Accordingly, and following execution of the Mbe earn-in agreement earlier this month, the Company expects to receive US$1 million in signature payments from BCM,with the first tranche of USD 500,000 to be made on or before 31 January 2024 and the balance of US$450,000 to be paid on or before 29 February 2024(announcement dated 19 January 2024). Work programmes are currently being designed for the next phase of exploration at the Project, and further guidance on these will be announced in due course.