Thani Stratex Resources Limited
Oriole has a 24.92% interest in privately-owned Thani Stratex Resources Limited (‘TSR’) for its 93% interest in the Hodine licence in Egypt. Private investment company Red Sea Resources owns the resultant 7% and is currently earning up to an 85% interest in return for staged expenditure commitments totalling US$2.2m.
Hutite
The Hutite system, located in south-eastern Egypt, is hosted by a melange of ultramafic/mafic rocks and represents one of the many suture zones between tectonic terranes in the Eastern desert of Egypt and indeed as seen all over the Arabian Nubian Shield.
Former operator Thani Ashanti drilled over 30,000 metres of RC and diamond drilling between December 2010 and March 2013. On the basis of this work, South Africa-based Quantitative Group estimated an Inferred Resource (non-JORC) of 11,500,000 tonnes grading 1.41 g/t Au for 520,000 in-situ ounces using 0.4 g/t Au cut-off.
Anbat
The Anbat-Shakoosh district, located within a 15 km-long belt to the south of Hutite, hosts broad zones of near-surface gold mineralisation within steeply-dipping, silicified (and sulphide-rich) felsic dikes as well as more shallow-dipping sheeted veining within an adjacent granitic unit.The district currently hosts three prospects: North Anbat, Anbat and Shakoosh. Anbat and, to a lesser extent, Shakoosh have been the main focus of exploration to date, with former operator Thani Ashanti completing a total c.14,000 meters of diamond and reverse circulation drilling across the prospects.
Between October 2016 and July 2017, TSR drilled a total 3,976.8 m over 18 holes at Anbat which led to a revised geological model for a near-surface, flat-lying zone of gold-mineralisation on the eastern side of an identified mineralised intrusion. Reported intercepts have confirmed the continuity of broad zones of mineralisation defined by historic drilling, as well as narrower high-grade intervals of up to 227 g/t Au over 1.25 m. In December 2017 TSR announced a maiden Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate of 209,000 oz at 1.11 g/t Au1 within porphyry sills. The geometry of these sills is yet to be fully resolved and will need to be addressed before any future resource estimation is undertaken. Potential upside has also been highlighted within the granodiorite, where an Exploration Target has been disclosed. More drilling is required to ascertain whether there is any potential for a larger open-pit resource.
TSR has also drilled 12 holes at Anbat North, confirming Sukari-style intrusion-hosted gold mineralisation, where gold is associated with thin quartz veins and sulphides.
1 Reported for blocks >0.5 g/t Au within a conceptual pit optimisation scenario using a gold price of US$1,500/oz.