Aurum Resources appoints Côte d’Ivoire country manager for Boundiali gold project

Aurum Resources (ASX: AUE) has appointed Yao N’Kanza (Fred) to the role of country manager for Côte d’Ivoire to expedite business development activities in the region and field exploration at the Boundiali gold project.

Based in Abidjan, Mr N’Kanza has over 15 years of experience in gold exploration and new project generation.

His expertise includes environmental studies and approvals, mining convention negotiations and conclusions, land acquisition for mine construction and all permitting tasks for gold production and exportation from Côte d’Ivoire.

He previously worked for private company Bamba & Fred Minerals Sarl and was instrumental in securing the company’s first exploration licence at Abujar in Côte d’Ivoire.

The licence was eventually explored by Tietto Minerals (ASX: TIE) and went from grassroots exploration to 3.8 million ounces of gold resources and gold production last year.

Mr N’Kanza worked for Tietto for 10 years as country manager.

Impressive track record

Aurum managing director Dr Caigen Wang welcomed Mr N’Kanza to the company.

“Fred’s impressive track record in exploration and gold mine construction in Côte d’Ivoire is invaluable,” he said.

“His arrival at Aurum during this stage of rapid growth bolsters our confidence in developing the Boundiali gold project swiftly and efficiently.”

Boundiali South tenement

The Boundiali project is located within the same greenstone belt as the 11.5 million ounce Syama and 1Moz Sissingue gold mines to the north, the 5Moz Tongon deposit to the north-east, and the 4.5Moz Koné project to the south.

In March, Aurum acquired the advanced Boundiali South tenement to add to the project’s BD and BM tenements.

“The combination of these three tenements increases our prospective land holding and enhances our confidence in defining a large quantity of gold resources in the coming years,” Dr Wang said at the time.

Exploration program

Aurum recently completed a $7m share placement to drive an aggressive exploration program at Boundiali.

The program commenced in October using two self-owned and operated diamond rigs to complete 2,600 meters of drilling per month.

A third rig arrived at the site last week to enable an increase to more than 4,000m per month.

Aurum is targeting a maiden gold resource estimate for Boundiali by year-end.