Oriole Resources inks earn-in deal with BCM International

West Africa-focussed gold explorer Oriole Resources announced the signing of a definitive earn-in agreement with BCM International for the Bibemi gold project in Cameroon on Friday.

The AIM-traded firm said that under the Bibemi earn-in agreement, BCM would have the opportunity to earn up to a 50% interest in the project by fulfilling specific commitments.

Those commitments included a signature payment of $0.45m to Oriole, which BCM was currently processing.

Notably, an earlier advance payment of $50,000 was made by BCM in November.

A significant portion of the exploration expenditure allocated to Bibemi would be directed towards resource-expansion drilling activities.

The company said the drilling was scheduled to start in the first quarter of the year, with further programme details to be revealed in due course.

Oriole said it had already initiated expenditure against the $4m funding commitment.

Around $72,000 had been received, facilitating camp upgrades and ongoing technical studies.

Those efforts were in preparation for the application for an exploitation licence in 2024.

Additionally, Oriole said it expected the execution of a second agreement with BCM, known as the 'Mbe earn-in agreement,' later in the month.

"We are delighted to have signed the first of two landmark agreements with BCM and to have already established a very close and strong working relationship with our new partner," said chief executive officer Tim Livesey.

"With our strategies and goals aligned at Bibemi and also Mbe, we believe this is the start of something significant for Oriole, BCM and exploration and mining in Cameroon.

"We are a long way from the Company realignment and rebranding we undertook back in 2018, when I originally took the helm, and I am very pleased to see that the decisions we have made and the time we have invested are now paying dividends for the team at Oriole, our partners, shareholders and the wider exploration and mining community in Cameroon."

At 1045 GMT, shares in Oriole Resources were up 13.42% at 0.2p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.