Oriole Resources (LSE:ORR) — Investor Presentation

0:00 Good afternoon, and welcome to the ORIOLE RESOURCES PLC investor presentation. Throughout this recorded presentation, investors will be in listen only mode. Questions are encouraged, and they could be submitted at any time using the Q and A tab situated on the right hand corner of your screen. Simply type in your questions and press send. The company may not be in a position to answer every question received during the meeting itself. However, the company can review all questions submitted today and publish responses, which is appropriate to do so. Before we begin, I would like to submit

0:30 the following poll. And I would now like to hand you over to CEO, Martin Rosser. Good afternoon to you. Thank you. Good afternoon, and welcome, everybody. I'm absolutely delighted to be giving this presentation to you this afternoon. It's gonna be a different presentation to those that have been given previously that many of you may have seen before. So I'm gonna disappoint those who are looking for lots of geology slides, technical slides, and so on because the focus very specifically and the purpose is to demonstrate why I unequivocally believe, and as someone who's previously worked as a mining analyst in the financial markets for eighteen years, that ORIOLE a fundamentally undervalued, high quality gold exploration company in Africa.

1:19 Next slide.

1:22 However, to caveat my last statement, this is our disclaimer, and it's important that you read and note its contents. Next slide, please. Why invest in ORIOL? Because we're in the right sector. Gold is running hot. It's at a new record over $3,220 an ounce. That's up 35% in the last twelve months. Gold's a store of wealth, a haven from global economic and political volatility, and don't we know it at the moment, and an inflation hedge. For example, since Gordon Brown brilliantly started selling off half The UK's gold reserves in 1999 at an average price, believe it or not, of $276 an ounce, it's gone up over 11 times.

2:15 Over the last twenty years, the average annualized return is around 11%. ORIOLE is fundamentally undervalued based on a mining analysis industry standard metric. What's that? I hear you ask. How do you man how do you value a gold company? Well, what most analysts would do is they would look at the enterprise value using measured, indicated, and inferred resources of contained gold. Look at a gold company as a gold bank vault. It's got gold in the ground. It's gonna cost something to extract it, and that gold in the ground is worth good money. ORIOLE's prospects and projects have major mine development potential. We have third party funding to minimize equity dilution.

3:02 Next slide, please. So to follow-up on the undervalued position of the company, we're undervalued based on peer group valuation averages for current resources. Ignore anything else. I repeat current resources. We're undervalued based on potential gold resource upside, currently discounted for Bibomite and Mbei. We're undervalued based on the Eastern CLP licenses potential. We're undervalued given our first mover advantage in Cameroon. We believe it's seriously unappreciated and that Cameroon is a nascent mining country with tremendous potential, a good infrastructure, a supportive government, and an eager and motivated workforce. We're undervalued based on potential resource based success payments due under the BCM agreement.

3:53 Next slide, please. So looking at the enterprise value for published only resource ounces and using a peer group average of $65 an ounce, that means that we've got a valuation that's significantly higher than the current market capitalization on that metric alone. That metric being in sterling, £19,500,000 versus our current market cap, which is just under £8,000,000. And that metric, that valuation enterprise value, excludes the significant upside potential value of our core gold projects, the Wapusi limestone project, and legacy assets. And note also that the MBEY enterprise value matrix in the table above, which was prepared by our broker, SP Angel, in a note in October 2024, which shows the potential to more than double the existing enterprise value.

4:51 Next slide, please.

4:56 Let's look at Bibami, where we're expecting an updated MRE in this current quarter based on the phase five drilling program, which finished earlier this year. And note note also that Bibomay is open along strike and at depth, plus there are other satellite targets to investigate. All of those potentially could supply a central processing facility at Bibomine. And so when we get the MRE through and other studies that we're working on at the moment, we'll be in a strong position to engage with the Cameroon government to advance the exploitation license application. And that's going to be something that we're gonna push really hard with the government because they, like us, are highly motivated to see that become a mining license as quickly as possible.

5:44 Next slide, please.

5:47 Now to our flagship project, M Bay. The drilling to date, of which we've done nine holes and we're on the tenth, already shows significant multiple widths of gold bearing mineralization, and I emphasize multiple widths because that's what we have seen that shows, in our opinion, that we've got a significant body being delineated as we continue the drilling. We've got very substantial surface area of anomalism, which was supported

6:18 by excellent trenching results over very long distances, and now we're getting a repeat of that mineralized intensity at depth. And, therefore, the three d model that we're building up shows that there's great potential to what we think will be a bulk tonnage open pit gold operation if everything comes together as we believe strongly it will.

6:42 So what are we going to see coming up of of a milestone nature at Mbe? We're going to see the maiden jaw mineral resource estimate and exploitation exploration target, rather, in the second half of this year. And remember, at the current gold price and with industry average all in sustaining cost of under $1,500 an ounce, the current profit margin on gold mining is truly exceptional. Next slide, please. The Eastern CLP, of which EMBEY is one of the licenses, holds tremendous potential. This slide shows you some of the areas of anomalism that have been identified through soil sampling, and we're confident that as we develop the EMBEY potential, that this will be reflected in ex interest and upside for the other licenses and that there may be, if all goes well, several other greater than 1,000,000 ounce potential discoveries to be made in this district.

7:49 Next slide, please. Moving to Senegal, a country which has substantial gold deposits already, and we have a very exciting project called Sonala. We see significant potential there for resource improvement, which is based solely on the existing additional data which hasn't been incorporated in the last mineral resource estimate and, of course, to reflect a much higher gold price since that initial work was done. As I've outlined, Senegal is a country which already hosts some significant gold mines. It has major mining companies highly interested and active in it, including Barrick and Managem.

8:36 And both of those companies, as an example of its prospectivity, recently announced a strategic alliance to boost gold exploration.

8:46 Barrow will invest $22,500,000 over five years with the goal of confirming a potential of plus 2,000,000 ounces of gold. And as you will know, Managem is our partner at Sonala. So we're very excited about moving this forward. We're currently engaged with Managem on finalizing a joint venture and the next phase work program, and you can see the sort of targets that Managem has for its relationship with Barrick. And similarly, they feel that anything that's less than a million ounces is is not worth their effort. So they wouldn't be devoting their time to this joint venture without having a big number in mind as to the upside.

9:31 Next slide, please.

9:35 So as I mentioned, this has been a very focused presentation because we're trying to make investors and our shareholders understand the serious undervalued nature of the company, its potential this year for significant milestones, which we believe will justify and trigger a rerating of the company's shares, its market valuation based on fundamentals. So at BIVMI, as you've heard, we'll be updating

10:05 the MRE, the mineral resource estimate, and that's going to be this current quarter. We'll engage with the government as soon as we've got those numbers to hand, which we can feed into the economic model and the associated studies to support it, to engage with the government, which is seriously focused with us on growing substantial gold industry in Cameroon. At Mbay,

10:32 we will have more results flowing from the ongoing maiden drilling program. And when that's finished, which we're targeting q three, we will then be in a position to have our consultant prepare the maiden mineral resource estimate and exploration target in the second half of this year, major trigger points for rerating the company on the back of those significant outcomes. In the Eastern CLP, we will be we feel that there'll be significant flow through from the work that we do at EMBAY and the results there from, and that will enable us to attract interest and carry on our efforts to fully evaluate what we have there. And at Somala, the joint venture and work program with Managem will be something that we'll be able to report on soon, and we believe that that's got great potential.

11:25 So I hope I've given you, in the short space of time, the clear message that ORIOLE a fundamentally undervalued gold exploration company with excellent management, great focus, and a serious opportunity to grow its value on behalf of the shareholders and stakeholders. Finally, a company summary, which gives you the pertinent information about the company and, with due modesty, the fine board that we have and team working with us very hard to, bring all of this to fruition and to, make this year a year to remember, a year which we get a rerating in our shares to fully reflect the potential and the results that we strongly believe are going to justify that. So thank you for your attention.

12:17 I'm delighted now to move to the next phase of the afternoon session, which will be the Q and A. Fantastic. Martin, thank you very much indeed for your presentation. Claire, Bob, I'm just going to turn on your cameras now. Ladies and gentlemen, please do continue to submit your questions using the Q and A tab situated on the top right corner of your screen. While the company take a few moments to read those questions submitted today, I would like to remind you that a recording of this presentation along with a copy of the slides and the published q and a can be accessed via our investor dashboard. Martin, Bob, Claire, as you can see, we have received a number of questions throughout today's presentation. And Martin, if I may now hand back to you and kindly ask you to read out the questions where appropriate to do so, and I'll pick up from you at the end. Okay. Thank you very much, and we're delighted to have this q and a session. It's important that we engage with our shareholders, potential investors, and and other interested viewers.

13:14 So first question is as follows. Why has the Bibami mineral resource estimate update been delayed? I think that's clear. That's not done. So in fact, the Bibami MRE update hasn't been delayed because it was always the intention that we will complete this workflow following the phase five drilling program, which was completed in February this year for just under 7,000 meters. In the final results announcement for that campaign, which was released in mid March this year, we indicated that the updated MRE would be published in q two. That time scale hasn't changed, and our independent consultant is actually working on on that as we speak.

14:00 Overall, though, the drilling campaign at Bibami did take much longer than we we anticipated. Largely, that was due to having to use older in country equipment whilst we waited for BCM to mobilize its own rig, which it did so, but it didn't arrive, unfortunately, until, quite late towards the end of last year. Thank you. Next question. What is the status of the exploitation license application and the likely timetable for notification? And who's is that yours or mine? It's me. That's me. Okay. Just in case you haven't heard enough of me already. So I I did mention this in the presentation, but the exploitation license application, of course, is a key exercise that we initiated last year.

14:54 And we engaged with the government, and they fully understood that we weren't in a position to move this forward aggressively because we had an ongoing exploration program and everything flows from the results of that in terms of the updated MRE, the mine planning around that, and all the other technical studies that support the application. So with when we received it, the MRE in our hot little hands, we will be moving swiftly to engage with the government to progress the exploitation license application.

15:31 And all I can say is that given that we're waiting for the MRE to be submitted this quarter, then you can expect, depending on when exactly we get it, an engagement as quick as possible afterwards once we've updated all of the studies and the economic economic model, especially, to then engage with the government and move the process forward. It's hard to predict how long the process will take other than I think we're of a firm opinion that the government is highly motivated to want to move it forward as quickly as possible within the constraints of of what they need to do and we need to do in our engagement with them. So, hopefully, that answers the question.

16:19 Next question. What activity is happening at Sonala and are ORIOL co funding?

16:27 Yes. That's me. We have a draft work program for Managem, which is under review, and it's, it's a multiyear work program. And we've got a draft JV agreement with which actually bounced back to us last night, so we we will turn that around quickly and get it back to manager. Decision has been made either way on whether we will co fund. But after a few slow years where our manager have been working through the sort of aftermath of their acquisition of Iron Girls West African projects, it's good to see them now turning their attention to Sonala, which we see is very positive. It's a very exciting project. Thank you, Bill. Okay. Question four.

17:14 The company has stated that there are high hopes that a maiden MRE for Embay on M B 01 South will be reported later this year. Given the drilling progress to date for almost five months and trying to read this. '24 on four of twenty four. No. It's not quite come through probably. Anyway, let's just say given the progress to date, can you please advise how this can be achieved? As an outside observer, it seems unlikely that all the drilling and lab work will be complete this year, let alone the modeling and analysis to prepare an MRE. So that's yours, Claire. Yeah. So we announced the first four holes within the first three and a half months of the program starting.

18:00 And during that time, we're also able to complete orientation studies to assess the optimal drilling orientation and the best asset method to use for the remainder of the program. These studies do tend to slow down programs at the start, but they're crucial to any exploration program, particularly one where we're working in a brand new area that's never been drilled before. So it's important for us to do that at the start. This morning, we're now five months into the program, and we've announced a further two results under the program's 44% complete. In total, we've completed nine of the 24 holes, and the tenth hole is underway.

18:39 But it's important to note that the first holes were mostly in the region of 300 to 400 meters deep, So it took a lot a lot longer to drill. The remainder of the program will largely be in the two to 300 meter range, so will undoubtedly be quicker. And based on the current drilling rates, we anticipate that the program will be completed in q three, although there are often unexpected operational issues that could impact that. But even so, we're we have a strong expectation that we'll be able to report a maiden MRE for the m v zero one south target later this year. Thank you. Question five.

19:26 Based on last year's experience at Bibami, what level of disruption to the Mbe drilling program is anticipated during the common coming rainy season?

19:36 So as I've as I've just mentioned, the main challenge at Bibami was using an old rig that had a fair few breakdowns along the way. Although getting supplies to and from camp was undoubtedly complicated by the rains due to access. This is far less of an issue at in bay, not only because we have a brand new rig, but because the main tarred access road is right next to the project. So supplies should be much more straightforward

20:04 to to get to site and to keep maintained. Remember that we also completed 7,000 meter trenching program during last summer. It did slow the things down a little, but not significantly. And in any case, we're hoping to finish the drilling program at before the rains take hold significantly.

20:27 Thank you. Question six. In November, the company stated that drilling at the M B 01 North target would be considered later in the field season. Can you please provide an update on the planning for this program and when it is currently anticipated to commence? So we have considered it, and we've actually already designed a program over the over the one North target. We need to agree the timing with our partner, BCM, but it's likely that it will commence before the end of the year. And once we've got that decision to go ahead, we'll be able to publish the full program to market.

21:12 Thank you. Question seven. Various historical commentary from the company suggested that BCM could take a significant role in developing any mine at Bibami, and they appear to have the funding, skills, and resources to take the lead with this. We understand the company is currently looking for expressions of interest for potential collaboration from companies that have the requisite attributes to realize this at BIVAMI?

21:41 What additional collaboration is necessary, and what role will BCM play in the potential development of a mine at BIVAMI?

21:50 So I'm going to, just expand on this by saying that, I think you'll be familiar, many of you, with BCM's capabilities. As as a significant mining contractor, earth moving contractor in the natural resources industry, specifically in Africa. They're based in Ghana. They understand how Africa works, and they have the major capability technically, financially, etcetera, to to undertake contract mining or owner operator mining for for things that they're involved in. So that position clearly

22:33 underwrote their interest in our assets, Bibami and Enbei. And as regards to Bibami, we, with our partner, BTM, are open to a range of opportunities and ideas to see how we can look to progress. As you've heard, we're waiting for the updated MRE, so we're having tentative discussions internally, and we will consider all options that make sense from the point of view of our partners and our shareholders as to what's the optimal way forward for the project. So we maintain an open attitude, and, we will see how things develop and work closely with them as our valued partner.

23:23 Okay. Question eight. Can you please provide an overview of the application process for an exploitation license together with the status of the various inputs required from the company for the proposed mine at Bibami?

23:41 I hope I've answered all of that earlier. I can't think of anything else to add. So but good that somebody else also wanted that question answered. So the next one, has the company had any discussions with potential partners who are interested and capable of developing a limestone quarry at Wapoozie?

24:04 So most definitely, yes, we were delighted to have got the license, renewal through, and we've been very busy, talking to various interested parties, which is an ongoing exercise. We've done a lot of research into the situation in country regarding the use of, material, limestone, to make cement. The situation where the country is desperately dependent upon importing clinker to manufacture cement at great expense through its balance of payments,

24:43 and that any source of high quality limestone, especially in the northern part of the country, which is of significant importance economically and, politically, and also its proximity to the country of Chad, which also has a desperate demand for cement, means that we believe it will attract significant interest, and that's what we've, seen to date.

25:06 So we're progressing that as best we can, and we will announce more as and when we're able to. Question 10. In the recent company video presentation, we were told of an updated JV agreement well, we're told that there would be an updated JV agreement with manage ManageM. I'm sorry. Spit that this light here. It was was imminent and that a work program at Stanala was anticipated this year. How will the company

25:38 fund its share of the costs of this work? Do I have you down for That's me again. I mean, it's a very similar question and answer to the last question. We, you know, we haven't decided, you know, whether we will co fund with Managem. We're just delighted that they're now turning their attention to it.

25:59 Thank you. Is that it from the pre submitted ones? Yeah. Is. I can't see the next one. It's not working.

26:12 Okay. Hi there, Martin. If you just scroll down in in that chat, you should be Oh, That's alright. It's coming now. It's coming now. Okay. Right. Okay. Which one were we up to now? Okay. We're up to 14. Is that right? Yes. Okay. Number 14. Does ORIOLE to present in person to shareholders and prospective investors this year beyond the AGM? So, yeah, I'll I'll take that one. Although we have skipped a few, but I suppose How about sort of quick one? I'll take this one. I'll go back. Yeah. I mean, there will be an AGM presentation, and we we would definitely intend to do another, IMC event later this year. We're also presenting at the Global Mining Finance Spring Conference in London on May 8 and we regularly meet with shareholders and prospective shareholders.

27:02 And I think it's also worth bearing in mind we have an open door policy on questions submitted via the website. You know, I I can't think of a time we've ever not responded to a direct question from a shareholder. In fact, I often see posts on the the LSE forum where I think, well, you know, send us an email and we'll tell you exactly why we've done that, to the best of our ability. So I I would encourage anybody who's got questions about the company to to engage with us directly, and we'll do our best to answer them. Okay. So I think that some of them have can I jump in, Martin? Yeah. Miss I want I can only see 19 at the moment. So questions have disappeared from the from the chat. But question 11 was, in January, the company advised that it was actively engaging with interested parties with regard to the sale of the NSR royalty, the Merit Dera copper gold project.

27:55 How many interested parties are there, and is this engagement still active? Is there any indicative time scale for the approval of the forestry permit? Yeah. I'll take that. I mean, there has been interest on ROADIA, although I think it's fair to say that the most of the likely acquirers would like to see the forestry permit issued first. And getting information on on the progress of that first permit is actually pretty difficult quite frankly. We've even dispatched our Turkish lawyers to find out the status and they've not been able to. And I think Turkey is just quite a difficult place to do business, especially at the moment. There's been a lot in the news about democratic struggles there. Nevertheless, we keep pushing to get a deal on this over the line.

28:42 You know, there is interest, but these things just seem to take forever. Okay. And then question 12. At a time when junior exploration companies have cut costs to the bone, how does ORIOLE justify an annual board of director salary outflow of 530,000 last year, the highest in a decade. The CEO at $1.40, CFO, one twenty, director at a 100, etcetera. This against a truly woeful share price performance, ORIOLE one of the highest paid boards by a significant margin compared to the vast majority of aim listed peers. Who would like to take this one? Oh, well, that's our gloves. Thank you. And you've missed this the notes to the board, which is do not use remuneration committee as an answer So first of all, I'd I'd say we're all disappointed with the share price performance. As the presentation Martin has just delivered shows, even on basic metrics of of resources we recognize so far, which is what we're allowed to share, the market capitalization of the company is very much undervalued in our view.

29:49 So so we all firmly believe that as evidenced by, the fee of us investing in the company a little over two months ago on the open market. Now without using the remuneration committee as an excuse, it's important to understand what the remuneration committee does. Its remit is to attract and retain people of the right caliber, skill sets, and motivation to run the company. And therefore, it's difficult to avoid the fact that the company needs to pay a market rate. So one of the tasks the remuneration committee do is review benchmarking studies and across public company board salaries and I can assure you that all salaries are at best in the lower quartile of those, remuneration reviews.

30:35 The reference to companies cutting cost to the bone, I think if you go back to 2023, ORIOLE cut its board cash outflow to the bone. Absolutely, we did because of of the market we were in. 2024 has been for us very different. It's been an exceptionally busy year, and comparing us to other juniors who might have been in survival mode in 2024 is perhaps not appropriate. The other comparison to avoid is necessarily comparing one board to another. We made the decision to put Claire on the board three years ago as our senior exploration geo. Other companies have senior exploration geos, but they aren't on the board. It doesn't mean they aren't getting paid, so you have to look at these things on a like for like basis.

31:26 Question 13. How can ORIOLE have any confidence in the appointment of mister Rosser as CEO? His thirteen year CEO role Alexander Mining was exceptionally poor. The share price fell from 23 p to under one p, down 98%, whilst the share count moved from 200,000,000 to 4,400,000,000 of set dilution. Well, we're we're answering all questions. Just so everybody knows, we haven't filtered them out. This is obviously one that puts me on the spot, and and I'm I'm going to answer it in this way. Look at the disclaimer that was put up earlier, and it highlights the risks involved in the mining sector. It's a high risk sector, high reward sector. Sometimes things work out, sometimes they don't.

32:13 Things which are completely beyond our control happen. Alexander Mining, specifically, was going very well, looking to build a small scale copper open pit gold mine in Argentina. What we couldn't plan for was the fact that we had the world financial crisis in 2008. We had the government, which came up with a completely self destructing policy of inflicting export duty on all metal exported from the country, and suddenly, we didn't have a commercially viable attractive copper mine. Clearly, that didn't help the share price. Fortuitously, we, in the course of looking at that project, came up with an innovative mineral processing technology, which we subsequently realized had massive potential.

33:03 We got it patented. It had great application, still does, in certain copper and zinc ore bodies, and we try very hard to make it a commercial success. But it doesn't always work out, and sometimes things go well, sometimes they don't. But the company survived. It wasn't able to succeed, but it survived and became something else. But I've had a career in the mining sector ever since I graduated as a mining engineer. Some things have gone well, other things haven't. But in my earlier career, pre Alexander Mining, I've been involved as a nonexecutive director of a company called Afriore. Afriore was a fantastic success, and it raised a total of $55,000,000 and turned that into $498,000,000 when it was bought out for its Akanani platinum project in South Africa.

33:59 And I helped raise a significant part of that money that the company raised as I've just mentioned. If if you want somebody that's professionally qualified, who's worked in Western Australia in gold mines, running open pits and underground, building one of the first open pit gold mines in Western Australia, which is still operating today, being part of the whole exercise in building that mine, and you want somebody who's worked as a mining analyst for eighteen years, as I mentioned earlier, who's done investor relations work, raised money for dozens of companies, I'm your man, so I present myself and my CV openly. And I can assure you I'm working as hard as I possibly can, and I'm convinced that we will be a major success. So that's the only way I can answer it, and you draw your own conclusions.

34:57 I don't think I've asked this one already. Does ORIOL intend to present in person to shareholders and prospective investors? We've done that one. Okay. Right. I think are we up to 19 now? Yeah. But there's quite a few of just been missing in between. I think that, yeah, what we've got are the ones that are coming during the meeting. I've got 19, which I can kick off with. Okay. So this one here says, when there are delays to the work program, can the team please notify the market that there are issues? We understand Cameroon doesn't have the same resources as other countries, so parts and technical support must be sourced out of country. This is no slight on the team, and I think the market would value the transparency. We'll quite understand the point, and I would hope that we are fully open and responsible when it comes to imparting information when deadlines are missed for whatever reason.

35:52 We definitely have an obligation, no pleasure, but an obligation to impart that information to the market, and we'll do so. And rest assured, our nomad will be very hot on making sure that we do do that. So, point taken, and, I think we will continue the policy that we're obliged to, and, hopefully, that will be satisfactory in terms of giving you the information. So number 20 is about Landstead. It says once the Landstead is completed, the deal, which runs out August this year, Is there a danger of another placing? Well, I think that's one for you, Bob. You might like to comment on the word danger. Well, no. I mean, I'll answer it the way we we, you know, we tried to allude to this in the year end RNS we published weeks ago.

36:45 We we we obviously had money in the bank at year end. What we also had there was a working capital, receivable from BCM where we pushed MB a lot harder as a board than than perhaps the funding from BCM would have allowed. So we we used our own funding to advance it quickly to drilling. And that working capital is unwinding. So we've received since start of the year 1,100,000 from BCM. So there is, you know, plenty of funds in the coffers at the moment. In terms of replacing, I think the board would always say, especially at this current price, that they had the preferred solution for everybody would be project level financing.

37:34 And of course, on MB and Bibimy, we still have project level financing as BCM have not got to the 4,000,000 points yet on EVA license. And we also have the prospect for asset sales, which we always say and everyone always says, when are you gonna sell an asset? And we did actually sell an asset in in 2024. And I would hope that there are gonna be moves this year that enable that to happen again. Certainly, a placing at this price is very much not in the board's mind. Thank you, Bob. Well, the next question, I think you've really answered, but it's a follow on. It says the Lancaster deal comes to a close in August. What plans are in place for continued funding beyond August?

38:22 It's it's the same answer. It's the same answer. Yeah. '22. Will you have to apply for additional permits before beginning ground based exploration work outside of the M Bay license on the wider CLP license package? I think that should be you. Claire, please. No. It's fully licensed already. We do have four additional licenses within that Eastern CLP package, which is the core focus, and we've got another three in the Western CLP, which are parked currently. But, no, this is fully licensed, and we've we've already undertaken some provisional streams, rocket sampling, and sort of something work there, and we will, as the presentation mentioned, be stepping up that work during this year.

39:12 Thank you. Okay. So this is, again, talking about finances. And, Bob, you will answer, I think. Bob recently mentioned in the year end interview on proactive investor that the year end cash position was £700,000, but the post year end, BCM have paid ORIOLE further now he's mixing the currencies, 1,100,000 oh, yeah. Yeah. And £850,000 sterling for borrowed money, which was used to accelerate the MVAY program, meaning that ORIOLE have a much better cash position now compared to year end. Is this correct? Yeah. Obviously, BCM paying us the 1,100,000, which was a catch up of our working capital was a was a great help.

40:01 You know, bear in mind, we are ongoing drilling at M Bay, and we will have work to do at Bidman as well. So we will be spending funds, but, you know, recouping some of the working capital was was obviously very helpful. Thank you. Well, this is a nice one to read out. Very polished presentation. Well done, team. Thank you. Any further development in regard to the prospective lithium project, Claire? So lithium is a part of the Ondom and Gambuku license. We've tried to not let it be a distraction from our gold exploration activities, But those that have followed us will be aware that we had Micron, an independent consultant out to site and to help guide us with further steps on investigating the lithium potential within those two licenses.

40:52 We have been undertaking some additional work, and we've been liaising with a number of groups that may have an interest in in partnering on that. Nothing's come to fruition at this point, but we will continue trying to ascertain the best way forward for the project. And, of course, we'll provide an update when anything meaningful comes to us. You. Next question's connected to financing as well. With the fall in the share price over recent months and weeks, how is this affecting the Topco funding position via the Lancaster deal, Paul? Well well, obviously, via Lancaster, we we get a monthly amount, based on the share price. So when the share price falls, that monthly amount falls.

41:43 As I mentioned earlier, we've had a big working capital inflow in the first quarter, so so impacting Topco funding as such, you know, would be nice for the share price to return to where it was. But, I think overall, and I think there's another question about Landstead later on. You know, Landstead was done in August 2023 when the market was, you know, horrendous for juniors. Really, really poor investment landscape. The The money we've achieved from Landscape already is pretty much it's well, not quite double, but well well towards double of what we could have achieved by doing a placing in 2020. Actually, I think just to add, I think it's probably over 60% more. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. By the time by the time it it unwinds all the way to August, it will be double what we could have got from doing a placing at that time. So as you know, people have not enjoyed the Lancet experience from our point of view, it's provided regular funds to the company at a price we could not have achieved in a placing.

42:49 So it's been positive. It's been positive because we had good news coming, and I think that's been the the the big thing about it. We knew BCM deal was very close, and that gave us an opportunity to benefit well from the Lancet mechanism, which is why we took it. Thank you. Okay. Next question. Why has the board failed to attract more high net worth investors or boutique funds? The stock is primarily held by retail investors. No 3% holders except Landsaid on the register at all. Surely, this needs to be addressing addressed.

43:35 Well, we have attracted high net worth investors, family offices, boutique funds, how you'd like to categorize them to the company. Clearly, if they were owning more than 3%, they would have to disclose as such, so they haven't got more than 3%. But we recognize that they're a very fertile source of shareholder support and interest, and we have had several conversations and ongoing with with potential investors in that category. And we, of course, will not neglect our retail investors. The the they're crucially important to the company. So we need a spread of investors.

44:21 I would say that it's easy to sort of make the statement why haven't we done it. It's harder to deliver in practice because those investors are quite difficult to cultivate. But I think I found the interest pick up recently because of the great run that the gold price has had. And in common with many other companies at the junior end, the retail investors by far and away the bulk of the shareholders, and it's beholden quite rightly on the board or executives to bring in other investors wherever possible. So it's very much on our radar, and we continue to promote the company and hope that that will bear fruit in due course.

45:08 Thank you. Next question. Why did the directors give themselves 4% of the shareholders' business earlier this year without any tie to performance? What reassurances can the board give shareholders that they won't repeat this expropriation of shareholders' assets? Well, Bob, you can answer that and correct some misapprehensions and and and effectively put people right on exactly what happened, please. Yeah. I I think I mean, I've seen this comment in other ways, and I think it's you know, people refer to this as free shares. I mean, share options are not free shares.

45:55 They they issued an exercise price, which I believe was point three 3. So in order to get in order to even get the shares, we would have to be paying at the market price. So that, you know, without any type of performance, I mean, these things are absolutely worthless unless we get the share price moving. So they act as an incentive to performance and not free shares at all. You know, we we would have to be paying it, market price anyway. It's just it harks back to the remuneration committee answer I gave earlier. This is all about retaining, the executives through the business with incentives, but they're not free shares at all.

46:42 Thank you, Bob. Okay. This one is talking about attending conferences, specifically the one to one conference, which takes place in May and December, notwithstanding that we're very focused on looking after our cash. So, yeah, there's a balance between presenting at conferences to promote the company and and attending so many that you're diluting down the value of what you're presenting and also your cash. So we strike a balance. We have an ongoing exercise in looking at the conferences that are out there. Don't worry. They pester us all the time, these people, and we just have to pick and choose those which have the best value for money, the best bang for our buck, and we'll continue to do that.

47:33 So, obviously, some of these questions have come in post the presentation. So pleased to see the first line here, which says, yes. The company is materially undervalued. However, the board of directors decided to give away 25% for just £1,500,000, slash 1,800,000. So I guess it's £1,500,000, $1,800,000. Back in August 23, the Lancet deal, Their selling has accounted for the weak share price. So more on the topic of Lancet, Bob, which you know well. Yeah. I mean, this this was the question I saw flash up and and try to answer in that same. So, I mean, you know, the the options for the company in August 2023 were were not huge, and Landstead has proven to have worked quite well for us.

48:26 You know, 1,800,000 return from that deal is effectively pricing it at a point one nine. That's a that's a premium to the share price the day we signed it. So I think, you know, understanding the concerns about their daily sell down, it still worked well for the company. Thank you, Bob. Okay. Next question. If the up and coming mineral resource estimate updates and new MREs attract a gold mining major, do you have a figure in mind as a target for the share price or market cap? Well, a multiple of the current level for sure, but I I guess you you investors have got the raw material there to do your own sums because what we have used in the presentation is is the average for our peer group sector courtesy of broker, which is $65 per measured indicated and inferred resource ounce.

49:30 And we're trading a significant discount to that. So if you assume that we were trading at the average, then you can see what the uplift would be based on your assumptions for the amount of gold that we might be able to report in the updates, our exploration, hopes for for our projects, etcetera. And and you can play around to to your heart's content as to what that number might be. But going back to my earlier remark, a multiple is not unreasonable on that basis of of the current market capitalization. Thank you for the update. Very informative. Please, could you confirm what work is planned on the remaining Eastern CLP ground this year, Claire? Yeah. Thank you. So we haven't actually published this. We have a number of programs that we've worked up internally.

50:27 As Bob and Martin spoke to you in a presentation on the back of the final results, we've been using a lot of our working capital to accelerate the progress at in particular to the extent that we paid more than was being delivered under the BCM agreement. As that's unwinding this year, and we're recouping some of that allocated expenditure, we'll be able to to push forward with those programs. And so we hope to make an announcement soon on what those programs might be. Thank you. Well, this is just a sort of request, really. I appreciate it. The updates given via LinkedIn are much appreciated.

51:14 Please keep them coming when you can within the regulatory rules, and and, absolutely, we will be delighted to do so. Next question, Bob. Who is on the remuneration committee? Dave Pelham, a nonexec director, and Aileen Carr, a nonexec chair at the remuneration committee. So I see that that's the end of the question. So I think we've had a good comprehensive number and and coverage of all of the aspects of the companies, both project wise and corporately, funding wise. I've certainly, along with Claire and Bob, enjoyed answering your questions. I hope you found the presentation informative and and and buy into our investment case.

52:04 As I said at the opening, we're fundamentally undervalued, and our job is to deliver a change in that this year. And we've got lots coming up, which I think will be trigger points for that to happen, We and very much look forward to the next opportunity to meet with you via this forum, and and thank you for your time this afternoon. That's great. Martin, Bob, Claire, thank you for updating investors today. Could I please ask investors not to close this session as you will now be automatically redirected to provide your feedback in order that board can better understand your views and expectations? This will only take a few moments to complete, and I'm sure will be greatly valued by the company. On behalf of the management team of ORIOLE RESOURCES PLC, we would like to thank you for attending today's presentation, and good afternoon to you all.

52:54 Thank you very much. Thank you.