ESG

Good health and well-being

Oriole continued to maintain a constant vigilance for the health and well-being of its employees throughout the year, with daily health and safety briefings conducted to ensure a consistently safe workplace. Upgrades to the Bibemi water filtration system, first installed in 2022, were completed alongside further improvements to the Bibemi base camp (such as improving the kitchen and food storage capacity) during the Phase 5 drilling programme that commenced in 2024. At Mbe, continued renovation of the base camp occurred including the construction of a new kitchen and food storage room. A second base house was rented in Mbe to accommodate a larger capacity for both operations at Mbe, and at other licences within the CLP, and renovated to accommodate field teams. Our local teams are empowered to bring forward suggestions across all of Oriole’s projects so that we can improve lives and continue to build our social licence to operate. Shortly after year end, the Company also installed two water abstraction boreholes close to Mbe for the benefit of the local communities.

Quality education

Exploration and mining companies have always been at the forefront of upskilling the local population in what are often remote areas of the world where educational facilities are sometimes less well established. Operating in Cameroon, with its relatively embryonic mining industry, gives us exposure to this opportunity and we work closely with the local communities and universities to deliver on this. Across all our operations, we source our employees in-country wherever possible and provide appropriate training at all levels to ensure everyone has an equal opportunity. In 2024, during the soils sampling programmes at Mbe, Oriole hosted 40 students from the Meiganga School of Mines, University of Ngaoundéré for a field workshop, enabling the students to experience real world exploration work and highlighting the importance of systematic exploration techniques in gold exploration. Oriole also hosted a Masters student from the Meiganga School of Mines investigating the importance of quality assurance and quality control (QAQC) protocols in exploration programmes. The student successfully completed their project, and they were subsequently employed by Oriole as a technician. During the 2021 and 2022 drilling campaigns at Bibemi, local people filled the ‘off-sider’ roles, an important part of the drill-crew, and these individuals were reengaged for the 2024-2025 work programmes. Local employment further strengthens Oriole’s ties to the local communities and it is committed to providing further opportunities.

The Company is also working to improve links with UK based universities and provided support to a University College London student with their MSci project, investigating the petrology and genesis of the gold at our Mbe project. This work was completed in 2024 and presented to the Company during the internal 2024 Technical Review workshop. The project was useful in providing some initial insights into the gold system at Mbe, highlighting the significance of academic-industry partnerships, and provides a basis for future studies on the project. Oriole has also offered to support a PhD project via the UKRI NERC sponsored TARGET Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) on the Mbe gold project. Whilst this is a competitive process and the funding isn’t guaranteed, the Company is hopeful of securing a student for the project, which would commence in 2025.

Gender equality

Diversity within a workforce brings wide-ranging benefits and can often be fundamental to a company’s success. Oriole promotes diversity throughout the Group, building its teams based on merit and not gender – or any other prejudice – and ensuring that everyone has equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities. Despite being a male-dominated industry, Oriole strongly supports and empowers women in mining and the broader working environment. The Company has female roles at all levels of the business, from junior staff through to management and the Board, with a current 55:45 male to female ratio.

Decent work and economic growth

Exploration, and the resultant mining operations, drive significant growth in developing economies and are associated with a multiplier effect at both a local and national level. Oriole is committed to providing all of its employees with fair incomes, job security and safe working conditions. We support the development of all our employees and aim to provide an environment which will attract, retain, and motivate people, helping them to maximise their potential and share in the Group’s successes. During the year, Oriole expanded its team to 20 employees, 10 of whom are Cameroonian, to accommodate two parallel drilling programmes at Bibemi and Mbe. We remain committed to recruiting local and regional talent wherever possible and training and employing technicians and casual workers from the local communities. This equitable process has had a significant positive impact both financially and in terms of upskilling the local workforce.

Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure

Exploration and mining is at the front line of discovering the very resources that are critical to the delivery of global infrastructure and technological advancements and that are important to many of the sustainability challenges facing the world today. Whilst we are gold-focussed, during our exploration work we also test for a wide range of other elements, including the battery metals that are crucial to meeting the UN’s sustainability goals. This is highlighted by our continued evaluation of anomalous lithium-in-soil concentrations within our Ndom and Gamboukou licences, alongside our gold exploration programmes. Whilst the importance of lithium in the context of carbon neutrality and development of green energy is well known, the importance of gold in building resilient infrastructure and promoting sustainable industrialisation is often overlooked and yet, due to its inherent properties, 11% of all gold produced is used in industry, with applications in medical, electronics, automotive, defence and aerospace industries, as well as climate-controlled buildings.

At a more local level, we aim to support governmental sustainability programmes and where possible include new and green technologies within our workplace. In Senegal, through the existing joint venture with Managem, the Company provides annual contributions to the country’s Social Mining Programme, a fund dedicated to benefiting local communities, and an integral part of the Senegalese Mining Code.

Reduced inequalities

Oriole leads by example in the countries and communities in which it operates, by building diverse teams that do not discriminate on the basis of sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, race, class, ethnicity, or religion. Throughout the business, we fully embrace the individuality of each and every one of our employees and operate a zero-tolerance approach to anyone that does not adhere to these values. Within the business, our team of 20 employees are from four different countries, practise a number of different religions and have ages ranging from 25 to over 65 years.

Life on land

The Company is committed to minimising any adverse impacts of its activities on the natural environment and, as a minimum standard, we comply with any relevant legislation and environmental regulations within the territories in which we operate. During all of our programmes, we ensure that we have a minimal impact on the environment by planning our programmes as efficiently as possible and we have protocols in place to ensure that all of our sites are rehabilitated before we move on. Following Oriole’s two-phase trenching programme at Mbe, backfilling of both Oriole trenches and recently-developed artisanal workings was completed to ensure that the Mbe site is safe for both people and animals. This work continued into 2025 but is nearing completion.

As part of ongoing technical studies at the Bibemi project, a detailed Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) was completed by Cameroonian-based Jurilex International, to support the exploitation licence application which was submitted in 2024. This study takes into consideration a wide range of environmental and social factors along with local stakeholder engagement to make sure the project is moving forward in a socially beneficial and environmentally friendly manner.

Partnerships for the Goals

Oriole has a diverse array of stakeholders and is committed to understanding and meeting their needs. In all the countries we operate, we have local partners that help us to foster good relationships with local communities and the local administration to ensure that our goals are aligned. We also use in-country suppliers wherever possible to support communities and local businesses.

At a project scale, Oriole has a commitment to stakeholder engagement and a continuous programme of reparation where any of our exploration programmes are found to impact on the local communities. Oriole has continued to engage with the local administration and stakeholders to make sure that all exploration is undertaken in a way that is beneficial to all parties. This is particularly evident at Mbe with the recent backfilling of trenches and artisanal pits in a careful and considerate manner to minimise any negative impacts on the local community.

At a higher level in Cameroon, we have also continued to work closely with the Ministry of Mines, the UK Honorary Consul and the British High Commission, and strongly support the efforts they are making to attract foreign investment and promote the sustainable development of Cameroon.