LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Oriole Resources announced the start of a fully funded 2,950-metre maiden diamond drilling programme at the MB01-N target on its Mbe gold project in Cameroon on Monday, aiming to build on last month's maiden JORC resource at the nearby MB01-S deposit and convert a significant exploration target into additional resource ounces.

The AIM-traded firm said the programme, comprising 13 holes, was designed to test MB01-N, which hosts a JORC exploration target of 15 to 20 million tonnes at grades of 0.77 to 0.94 grams per tonne for 370,000 to 605,000 ounces of contained gold.

It said the target sat about 700 metres northeast of MB01-S, where Oriole recently announced an inferred mineral resource of 24.8 million tonnes at 1.09 grams per tonne for 870,000 ounces.

Drilling at MB01-N was expected to conclude late in the first quarter of 2026.

The launch of the new campaign followed Oriole's completion agreement with BCM International, under which the company would receive $0.9m in cash and $0.3m in direct drilling expenditure.

On completion of the programme, BCM would acquire a 50% interest in the Mbe licence.

Chief executive Martin Rosser said the rapid mobilisation reflected strong momentum at Mbe.

"We are delighted that soon after announcing the tremendous maiden MRE at MB01-S, we have swiftly started the maiden drilling programme at the nearby MB01-N prospect," he said.

"I would like to thank my hard-working colleagues and our partner BCM International very much for all the preparation work and the fast drilling team mobilisation.

"With the precedent of the JORC exploration target conversion success rate at MB01-S, the potential for a similar achievement at MB01-N and the reporting of drilling results are eagerly anticipated."

Oriole said MB01 is one of four prospects identified so far within the 12.5-kilometre Mbe corridor.

MB02, MB03 and MB04 were defined through soil sampling campaigns between 2021 and 2024 and are underlain by the same geology as MB01.

The company noted that MB02 shared similar structural controls to MB01-S, offering further upside across the project.

At 1310 GMT, shares in Oriole Resources were down 2.04% at 0.24p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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