In an exploration update for its 80%-owned Mbe gold project in the Adamawa region of Cameroon, Aim-listed gold exploration company Oriole Resources said it had managed to significantly improve the definition of previous regional gold-in-soil anomalism at the MB01 prospect.

The company has achieved this through infill soil sampling of 100 m at 25 m spacing, with results from 4 537 samples, including quality assurance and quality control (QAQC) samples, delivering up to 8 174 parts per billion (ppb) gold.

Mbe is just one of five licences within Oriole’s broader Eastern CLP package of contiguous exploration licences, which covers 2 266 km² of gold prospective ground. Surface mining and earthmoving company BCM International is currently funding up to $4-million in exploration expenditure for the project.

"These latest results have provided further significant insight into the potential scale of the gold bearing system at Mbe, with the definition of three substantial targets for follow-up on the MB01 trend,” Oriole exploration and business development executive director Claire Bay said on June 4. 

The increased data resolution delivered by this infill programme has identified three key zones, including the previously defined northern target (MB01-N) and southern target (MB01-S), for more targeted follow-up.

“MB01-S, in particular, is looking extremely robust,” Bay added.

A greater than 100 ppb gold soil anomaly extends over 1.15 km by up to 750 m at MB01-S, marking a significant zone of pervasive gold deposition. The core of this anomaly is more than 500 ppb gold.

A second greater-than-50-ppb gold soil anomaly of 950 m by up to 750 m has been defined at MB01-N, with results highlighting the importance of intersecting structural controls.

A third, more diffuse zone has been outlined along strike of MB01-N to the north-east, extending over an area of 500 m by up to 500 m.

A trenching programme has started for a planned 5.5 km, which will provide three-dimensional data by mapping and sampling the rocks underpinning these soil anomalies. The results, which are expected by the third quarter, will help to define drilling targets for the 2024/25 field season.

A second infill soil sampling programme of 100 m by 50 m spacing is nearing completion over the broader regional soil anomalism, which also covers two ground geophysical targets: MB_Target A and MB_Target B. Results for these are also expected by the third quarter.

Oriole said that additional pit sampling has delivered the best results so far of 260.03 g/t gold from 556 samples, including QAQC, with 160 samples, or 31.18% of the samples, grading at more than 0.5 g/t gold.

Results from initial metallurgical analysis of 18 representative pit samples suggests that the near-surface, oxidised material, is non-refractory and should be amenable to conventional leaching extraction methods, the company said.

“The team has worked extremely hard to ensure that our programmes remain on schedule . . . Follow-up trenching has already commenced over these three targets. This will help us to build our geological model and to guide a maiden drilling programme in the next field season. 

“Results from the initial metallurgical testwork are also . . . encouraging and, with a second soil sampling programme nearing completion over the wider licence area, there exists the potential for further target identification,” Bay said.