West Africa-focussed explorer Oriole Resources has completed four phases of diamond drilling at its 90%-owned Bibemi gold project, in Cameroon, proving the existence of multiple gold-bearing, sub-horizontal veins in addition to the previously tested subvertical veins.

Phase 4 of the diamond drilling programme, totalling 531.3 m in six holes, includes an extension to previously reported Phase 2 drillhole BBDD034 with 2 m of mineralisation grading at 39.42 g/t gold from 160 m below surface and including a 1 m interval grading at 75.36 g/t.

In addition, the results for 238 selective core samples have delivered a number of significant intersections based on a 0.3 g/t gold cut-off grade.

Other notable intersections include 4.3 m of mineralisation grading at 3.33 g/t gold at a depth of 53.3 m in drillhole BDD050; 3 m of mineralisation grading at 1.17 g/t gold at a depth of 41.7 m in drillhole BBDD052, and a 3 m mineralised zone grading 12.3 g/t gold at a depth of 58 m.

Drillhole BBDD050 was drilled vertically at the Bakassi Zone 1 prospect and has confirmed extensional veins with broad alteration haloes that have delivered the widest zones of continuous mineralisation to date including 14.8 m grading 4.27 g/t gold.

Oriole report that the results, to date, at Bakassi Zone 1 indicate a good potential for the future delineation of a mineable mineral resource, while high-grade mineralisation has also been confirmed at Lawa East, with hole BBDD053 delivering a 3 m mineralised zone grading 2.3 g/t gold.

CEO Tim Livesey says the drilling results are “extremely exciting”, confirming that Oriole has two gold-bearing vein sets at Bakassi Zone 1 and the additional potential for mineralisation at the two Lawa prospects.

“At Bakassi Zone 1, the vertical hole BBDD050 was designed to test for gold mineralisation in sub-horizontal extensional quartz veins. These sub-horizontal veins are in addition to the already proven subvertical quartz-tourmaline veins and, as such, they offered the opportunity to significantly increase the volume of mineralisation by creating a lattice work of mineralisation.”

He adds that the results confirm the theory of wide zones of gold mineralisation being related to the interplay of both vein sets downhole. “Five separate intersections in this particular hole each show significant width and grade, including the widest zone drilled to date at the project of nearly 15 m at over 4 g/t gold.” 

“This indicates to us that we have the potential at Bakassi Zone 1 to composite the vein sets, in order to create wider zones of gold mineralisation that could be considered economic for openpit or underground bulk mining methods.

“We will continue to refine our geological and grade models and report back to the market as we progress our work as the dry season begins during the fourth quarter of this year,” says Livesey.

“Cameroon is truly delivering on its promise as a new frontier for gold exploration and, alongside our extensive success within the Central Licence Package [CLP], we are pleased to be first movers with the opportunity of defining a new gold district.

“The geological information acquired at Bibemi will provide an invaluable baseline for our future work on the CLP and so we look forward to the upcoming field season at both projects,” he concludes.