Oriole Resources PLC on Tuesday said that earn-in agreements for two of its Cameroon gold projects will be sealed later this month, and elsewhere, it is considering the future of an asset in Senegal.

The gold exploration company focused on west Africa said that execution of earn-in agreements for the Bibemi and Mbe gold projects are anticipated this month.

The deal will grant BCM International Ltd, a Ghana-based mining and civil contractor, a 50% interest in both early-stage gold exploration projects. In exchange, BCM will pay the outstanding signature payments of $450,000 and $1.0 million for Bibemi and Mbe, respectively.

These signature payments will assist Oriole in fast tracking both projects, the group said. BCM will also provide $4.0 million in exploration costs at each project, as well as future resource-linked success-based payments.

Oriole said $72,000 of this funding has already been provided at Bibemi ahead of the application for an exploitation licence this year. The Mbe earn-in is contingent on BCM completing its due-diligence review of the sight, results of which are expected in late January.

Oriole Chief Executive Officer Tim Livesey said: ‘With our efforts to attract a project-level partner for two of our properties nearing completion, we hope to see rapid and successful progress in 2024, with the expansion and enhancement of the resource at Bibemi, and advancement of the definition of a new gold district within the central licence package, starting with the Mbe project.’

Last month, Oriole submitted a renewal application for the Senala gold project in Senegal. Managem, a Moroccan mining company to whom Oriole sold its Senegalese portfolio in December, has said that it will complete no further work at Senala under the existing option agreement following its expiration on February 17. The company is currently considering the future of the Senala project after this option’s conclusion.

Oriole is also awaiting approval for a two-year licence extension at Wapouze, a gold exploration project in north-eastern Cameroon. In September, the company requested a change of commodity focus from gold to limestone, and will look to secure an industrial mineral partner once the licence renewal is granted.

Livesey said: ‘We continue to progress the Wapouze licence to a stage of potential farm out as a source of industrial minerals for the cement industry in the region’.

Shares in Oriole were down 2.9% at 0.16 pence each in London on Tuesday afternoon.

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