Aurum Resources expands exploration with high-grade gold finds at Boundiali

Aurum Resources (ASX: AUE) has made a strong start to exploration at its recently-acquired Côte d’Ivoire assets with impressive hits at the Boundiali gold project.

The company’s initial drilling has identified high-grade as well as multiple shallow and wide gold intercepts in assay results from ongoing diamond drilling (DD).

Around 10,489 metres of scout DD on five targets has been undertaken within two tenements at Boundiali since late October 2023.

31 diamond holes were completed for 4,901m on the BM tenement and 30 diamond holes completed for 5,588m on the BD tenement.

Highlight results include 4m at 22.35 grams per tonne from 226m; 6m at 1.40g/t gold from 7m, 12m at 1.29g/t gold from 17m and 5m at 4.73g/t from 53.5m including 1.1m at 20.35g/t from 53.5m.

To help accelerate its Boundiali exploration plans, Aurum has purchased a third DD rig to add to its fleet, which will increase drilling capacity from 2,600m to around 4,000m per month from late April.

To date, Aurum has been utilising two man-portable hydraulic DD rigs and consumables that were part of the PlusOr deal.

Aurum has a strong cash balance of $3.9 million, with a further $3.3m expected following shareholder approval from the recent $7m capital raising, allowing Aurum to accelerate the Boundiali resource definition.

High-grade gold intercepts

“We are very pleased to report high-grade gold intercepts […] as well as multiple intersections of shallow and wide gold mineralisation from our inaugural scout drilling campaign in the two exploration tenements comprising the Boundiali gold project,” Managing director Dr Caigen Wang said.

“While drilling is continuing and more assay results are pending, we are confident our aggressive DD program will firm up more targets for subsequent gold resource definition drilling through CY2024.”

Multiple targets to be tested

Dr Wang added there are multiple gold targets yet to be tested in the BM tenement that have been defined from extensive gold in soil anomalism and artisanal pits that are associated with a north-south trend of metasediments and granites.

There appears to be a sheared and cut-up granite with metasediments wrapping around the ellipsoidal granitic in the south of the permit that is an exciting target zone yet to be tested.

Exploration at the BD tenement is more advanced, where soil sampling highlighted a more than 13 km by 3 km corridor of at least 30 parts per billion gold anomalies.

Follow-up reverse circulation drilling (91 holes drilled for 6,229m) defined three prospects that are being tested with the current exploration program.

Assay results from the first eight diamond holes identified strong gold mineralisation with thick and homogeneous mineralisation and wide intervals of gold in seven of the eight.

Strong gold neighbourhood

The Boundiali gold project is located within the same greenstone belt as the large Syama (11.5 million ounces) and Sissingue (1.0Moz) gold mines to the north, the Tongon (5.0Moz) to the north-east and Montage Gold’s 4.5Moz Koné project located to the south.

Aurum wrapped up the acquisition of Boundiali from former owner and Côte d’Ivoire mining specialist PlusOr Global in mid-December.