Aurum Resources appoints exploration manager to lead field program at Boundiali gold project
Aurum Resources (ASX: AUE) has appointed gold mining executive Yaya Ouattara to the role of exploration manager to drive a program of aggressive field work at the the recently-acquired Boundiali project in Côte d’Ivoire.
Mr Ouattara has a track record in target generation and resource definition, having previously been responsible for the delivery of multi-million ounce gold deposits in west Africa’s Birimian Greenstone belt.
He led the discovery of gold resources at Tietto Minerals’ (ASX: TIE) Abujar project in Côte d’Ivoire, growing it from 700,000 ounces in 2016 to 3.8Moz in 2023.
In his new role, Mr Ouattara will be supported by Aurum’s management team, as well as international consultants and site-based technical staff.
Previous success
Aurum managing director Dr Caigen Wang welcomed Mr Ouattara to the company.
“Yaya’s successful delivery of multi-million ounce gold resources [at Abujar] within a short period of time is very impressive.”
“His ability and capacity in managing multi-project exploration teams as well as up to eight diamond drill (DD) rigs in challenging conditions such as the global pandemic have been second to none,” he said.
“We are extremely pleased to have such a high-calibre Ivorian national professional joining and leading our exploration team in Côte d’Ivoire while we are aggressively progressing our Boundiali gold project utilising our company-owned DD fleet.”
Dr Wang was the founding managing director of Tietto, leading it to become West Africa’s newest gold producer in January 2023 with a $690 million market capitalisation.
Share placement
Dr Wang said a planned 30,000-metre exploration program at Boundiali will be funded by an oversubscribed $7m two-tranche share placement completed earlier this month.
The first tranche will consist of 15.4m fully-paid ordinary shares issued at $0.24 each to raise $3.71m, while the second will total 13.6m shares at the same price to raise $3.28m.
Aurum received strong demand for the raising from Australian and international institutional investors as well as existing shareholders.
Directors, including Dr Wang, have subscribed for $348,000 worth of shares.