Oriole Resources plc said that an independent desktop remote sensing study had identified 12 initial priority gold targets at its 3,592km2 Central Licence Package, central Cameroon.
OROGENIC
The company, which owns 90% of the district-scale site, plans to start regional mapping and stream sediment sampling during the first half of 2021.
Oriole said that seven of the eight licences are interpreted to cover predominantly Paleo-Proterozoic and Pan-African (Neo-Proterozoic) terranes, both of which are prospective for orogenic gold.
The eighth licence was covered by younger volcanic rocks but the Proterozoic and/or Pan-African terranes were expected to be encountered at depth.
The Tcholliré-Banyo shear zone (TBSZ) has been interpreted to cross at least six of the licences.
The company said it was believed to be one of the significant structural controls for gold and other mineralisation in the region
Initial ground-truthing of the targets is now complete and will be used to inform local authorities of coming work programmes.
Oriole has also received confirmation of gold recovery from alluvial workings in the centre of the easternmost Ndom licence.
“This work endorses the company’s initial assessment that the district has significant potential to host orogenic-type gold mineralisation,” added chief executive Tim Livesey.
“Whilst these 12 ‘first-pass’ remote sensing targets look interesting from a desktop analysis point of view, we will also be carrying out a wider, district-scale stream sediment sampling programme and mapping, as the main part of the 2021 programme across the entire licence package.
“From this work we expect to identify many more areas of interest for detailed follow up in later exploration phases.”
Mr Livesey said that Oriole would continue to re-evaluate and re-prioritise its targets across the potential new gold exploration district as more data became available from field programmes.
DISTRICT SCALE
The licences were recently issued to Oriole’s subsidiary, Oriole Cameroon SARL, and its partner Reservoir Minerals Cameroon Sarl, a subsidiary of Bureau d’Etudes et d’Investigations Géologico-minières, Géotechniques et Géophysiques SARL (BEIG3).
Five new licences of Tenekou, Niambaran, Pokor, Ndom and Mbe also in central Cameroon lie to the west of the regional capital, Ngaoundéré.
Together with a further three new licences of Mana, Dogon and Sanga, granted to Reservoir Minerals Cameroon Sarl, the district-scale licence package covers a contiguous land package of 3,592km2.