Oriole's dilution comes after its joint venture partner Lodos Maden Yatırım Sanayii ve Ticaret increased its investment in the project and will progress the project to secure environmental impact assessment (EIA) approval.

Under the JV agreement, once Oriole's interest moves below 10%, Lodos can exercise its option to convert Oriole's interest to a 1.2% post-Turkish tax NSR royalty for all future production.

Oriole first sold 51% of Muratdere to Lodos in 2012 for US$1.7 million. In the March 2015 quarter, Lodos paid a further $500,000 and completed a feasibility study to increase their interest to 70%.

Lodos continued to dilute Oriole's interest in the project by making further payments and working towards an EIA, after the latter decided to not spend any more cash on Muratdere.

Oriole CEO Tim Livesy said the company was looking forward to a positive permitting response for the project so Lodos could move closer to getting Muratdere into production. 

"In addition to the royalty with Lodos, we have several other assets in Turkey which we continue to monitor and support, with a view to future value creation for Oriole," he said.

Oriole's shares rose 3.31% on the news to 0.37p (US0.49c), but are still 29% lowere than they were six months ago.