Oriole Resources plc aims to begin an inaugural diamond drilling programme later this month at its 85%-owned Wapouzé limestone project, in northeast Cameroon.
TVRs
Drilling for 1,000 metres will determine the depth continuity of “outcropping limestone/marble units”, previously classified as “high-grade carbonate material”.
The company said that the material was potentially suitable for use mainly within the country’s cement industry.
Results of the campaign will contribute to a JORC exploration target estimate and/or an inaugural mineral resource estimate for Wapouzé.
Operator BCM International Ltd, which is also Oriole’s partner on the Bibemi and Mbe gold projects, will pay US$120,000 (£89m) of direct drilling costs, in return for 24,400,000 ordinary Oriole shares of 0.1p each, issued at 0.36 pence per share.
The price matches the exercise price of warrants issued in the November 2025 fundraise.
Following admission, Oriole’s total issued share capital will comprise 4,896,668,356 ordinary shares, with voting rights and none held in treasury.
Oriole also continues discussions with industrial partners on potential development of the project, with the objective of obtaining a royalty-based income from commercial quarrying.
Chief executive officer Martin Rosser added: “The property has serious economic potential based on the possible size of a strategically located resource which could supply valuable in-country feed material for manufacturing cement.
“This would be for use in concrete both within Cameroon, but also nearby Chad, which has a significant cement shortfall and is reliant currently on significant imports from Cameroon.”
Originally a gold project, Wapouzé lies 20km north of Oriole’s standalone Bibemi orogenic gold project.
The company noted that Cameroon’s cement industry was believed to be worth several hundred million pounds per year and supported in the main by imports.