Oriole Resources PLC (AIM: ORR) has published an amended technical report for its Bibemi gold project in Cameroon, incorporating an in-house preliminary economic assessment designed to support the company’s application for an exploitation licence. The assessment envisages a seven-year open-pit mining operation with an average annual production of 10,000 ounces of gold.
The base case scenario applies a gold price assumption of $3,200 per ounce and projects an after-tax net present value of $12.8 million. Martin Rosser, chief executive of Oriole, characterised the report as representing an important milestone in the company’s pursuit of an exploitation licence for the Bibemi project.
According to Rosser, the preliminary economic assessment demonstrates that the project possesses mine development potential based on work completed to date. The mine plan concentrates on extracting the majority of gold contained within the indicated resource category, utilising an expandable modular skid-mounted treatment plant design intended to provide operational flexibility and potential for future economies of scale in treatment plant capital intensity.
The chief executive emphasised that the design’s flexibility to expand potential production receives support from the fact that less than 20 per cent of the project’s total contained gold resources have been incorporated into the preliminary economic assessment. This aspect suggests considerable room for future development beyond the initial mine plan.
Rosser drew attention to what he described as encouraging scope for upgrading existing resources and exploration targets across all prospects, which would provide additional upside potential to the project. The company anticipates results from further technical studies, including more detailed metallurgical test work, which will enable the determination of more accurate preliminary economic assessment parameters.
The publication of this technical report represents a critical step in Oriole’s regulatory pathway towards securing an exploitation licence for the Bibemi gold project. The modular approach to plant design offers strategic optionality for the company, particularly given that a substantial proportion of identified resources remains outside the current mine plan.
