Oriole Resources plc has started an inaugural drilling programme at its 85%-owned Wapouzé limestone project in northeast Cameroon.
QUALITY
The planned 1,000-metre campaign for 19 holes will target “steeply-dipping metamorphosed limestone (or ‘marble’) units”, located in the northeast of the licence.
Drilling will focus on outcrops within three main zones, covering a total strike length of 1.2km, and to vertical depths of up to 40m.
Operator BCM International Ltd, which is also Oriole’s partner on the Bibemi and Mbe gold projects, has drilled the first hole, WPDD001, to a depth of 55m and intersected marble units to the end of the hole.
Oriole said that the results supported a continuation of the package to the northwest.
“Within the hole, a number of narrow metamorphosed dykes cross-cut the marble although the full width of the package is not yet known,” added the company.
“Based on an in-field portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) pre-screen on the core, it appears to be good quality (i.e. >50% CaO [calcium oxide] with low magnesium and silica).”
The programme’s results, along with a planned geophysics resistivity survey, will contribute to an inaugural mineral resource estimate and / or JORC exploration target later this year.
The “high-grade” carbonate material could potentially be used in the country’s cement industry.