Aurum Resources expands drilling at Boundiali gold project with licence renewal

Aurum Resources (ASX: AUE) has been granted a renewal of its Boundiali South (BST) exploration licence, one of four tenements within the Boundiali gold project in Côte d’Ivoire.

Drilling at BST, which covers an area of 167.36 square kilometres, has previously returned strong results including 20 metres at 10.45 grams per tonne gold from 38m and 30m at 8.30g/t gold from 39m.

Aurum will increase the BST rig fleet from four to six, targeting a drilling rate of 10,000m per month and a total of 45,000m for the 2024 calendar year, with the company aiming to deliver an inaugural mineral resource estimate for Boundiali before year-end.

Nyangboue drilling

Aurum has received ministerial approval to commence step-back diamond drilling to test for depth extensions at the high-grade Nyangboue gold deposit.

Nyangboue, the most advanced exploration gold play within the broader Boundiali project, was identified during extensive surface geochemical sampling that collected more than 5,700 samples and returned gold-in-soil values up to 9,964 parts per billion.

The exercise also delineated compelling gold anomalies at Nyangboue South and Gbemou.

Previous assays

Nyangboue sits at the interface of two distinct lithologies and the mineralisation has been observed to be associated with quartz veins, often containing visible gold.

Previous drilling at the deposit delivered positive assays including 20m at 10.45g/t gold from 38m, 30m at 8.30g/t gold from 39m and 28m at 4.04g/t gold from 3m.

The new program is expected to commence shortly after receipt of the necessary approvals to operate within the classified forest that partially covers the licence.

Camp construction

Aurum is also progressing the construction of a new centralised exploration camp at Boundiali for start-up in November.

It will serve as a central hub for the company’s exploration activities in the region, facilitating improved coordination, streamlined logistics and enhanced operational oversight while reducing operating costs.

The camp will initially accommodate 50 exploration team members and drilling contractors and will eventually be expanded to a second stage to house an additional 20 people.

Facilities will include a 40,000-litre fuel tank (which will be expanded to two tanks in the second stage), a water bore and a water tower to ensure the camp remains self-sufficient.

Aurum is also working to secure grid power connectivity to further enhance the camp’s functionality and reduce reliance on alternative power sources.