Oriole Resources plc (LON:ORR) Chief Executive Officer Martin Rosser caught up with DirectorsTalk to discuss further results from the step-out diamond drilling programme at the Mbe gold project in Cameroon.
Q1: Oriole Resources have announced that the step-out drilling programme has been completed at Mbe South gold deposit. The latest drilling has returned 27.2 metres at 1.69g/t Au. How significant are those results in the context of the current 870,000 oz Mbe South resource? What confidence do they give you that the resource can grow further?
A1: Well, these results are very good. They’re supported by the earlier results that were released and we’re very confident that currently we’re looking at a good upside on the volume of mineralised material. We believe that that should translate into meaningful increase in the resource that we have at the Mbe South deposit once the mineral resource estimate is calculated in due course by our independent geological consultant.
Q2: With the 10-hole step-out programme now complete and five holes still awaiting results, what timing should investors be looking at regarding the remaining assays and the updated mineral resource estimate?
A2: Well, not too long to wait in the context of the final results from the remaining holes. We should have all those in by the end of this month. Thereafter, obviously, as just mentioned, the independent geological consultant can start work on revising the mineral resource estimate for Mbe South. We expect the outcome from that exercise will be something we can report upon early in the third quarter of this year.
Q3: Now, the current Mbe resource already stands at 1.23 million ounces across Mbe South and Mbe North. Can you give any guidance on what the longer term scale potential of the Mbe project might be, given that mineralisation remains open in all directions and at depth?
A3: Well, absolutely, that’s the case and of course, this step-out drilling programme that’s just been completed gives us the confidence to see a significant increase in the resource.
Beyond that, of course, we’ve still got the scope to extend the mineralised area and therefore the amount of material that’s held in the northern deposit and that exercise is being considered at the moment and other drilling programmes at the Mbe project. We feel that it’s not unreasonable to see a significant additional amount of gold that will be delineated as a result of the next phases of work from the drilling programmes that we’re envisaging. That should see a significant increase over time from the current 1.23 million ounces.
So, it’s very difficult to give an absolute range of expectation, but we certainly see very strong upside from those programmes, just mentioned, and indeed, within the wider Mbe licence, we’ve got some very interesting targets to evaluate just to the east of the north and the south deposit.
So, there’s plenty to go for, plenty of excellent opportunity to grow the resource significantly.
Q4:BCM’s earned a 50% interest in Mbe, and a formal joint venture agreement is nearing completion. How does this particular partnership help accelerate resource growth and ultimately move the project towards a potential mine development?
A4: We’re delighted that BCM International is now a 50% equity owner in the licence. BCM has been a very good partner for us. They’re a significant sized company with good financial resources and strength in numbers. They have, as is their core business, considerable mine contracting expertise, very good industry knowledge, especially in Africa, their main area of activity, good contacts within the industry to support our plans jointly to look at developing our assets.
Importantly, to add they have provided the drilling rigs for the recently completed step-out drilling programme at Mbe South and they’ve been very good at doing our drilling work and have a very excellent team that delivered a very successful programme in terms of timing.
We thank them for that and indeed, I’d like to thank our own field crew for the excellent job that they’ve done to conclude this programme and looking forward to the next phases of work in due course. There’s plenty to look out for.
