Aurum drills into more high-grade gold at Napié

ASX-listed gold explorer Aurum Resources continues to build momentum at its 0.87-million-ounce Napié gold project in Côte d’Ivoire after delivering another batch of impressive results from its ongoing 30,000-metre diamond drilling program.

The infill and extensional drilling campaign at the Tchaga deposit is focused on resource expansion and confidence upgrades and continues to intersect multiple broad, high-grade gold zones. 

Standout results include a best intercept of 5 metres at 10.09 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 209m, featuring an eye-catching 1m at 49.1g/t gold. The same hole also returned 0.62g/t gold from 363m, including a 1-metre section running at a stellar 7.55g/t gold.

Another drill hole delivered 10.08m at 4.52g/t gold from 73m, including 1.9m at a whopping 23.45g/t gold, reinforcing the consistency of grades emerging from the program over recent months.

Importantly, gold mineralisation at Napié has now been confirmed over a strike length of 2.3 kilometres and remains open both along strike and at depth, highlighting the potential for further resource growth beyond the current mineral resource estimate.

Aurum has also strengthened its operational firepower by expanding its privately owned drill fleet. Two rigs are now operating at Napié, supported by a further 12 company-owned rigs working at the Boundiali project. Across both projects, Aurum is targeting more than 130,000 metres of drilling in calendar year 2025, giving the company exceptional control over costs and drilling schedules.

The company is planning two major mineral resource updates — one each for Boundiali and Napié — in early Q1 2026, which are expected to materially grow Aurum’s current combined 3.28-million-ounce gold inventory. A prefeasibility study at Boundiali is also progressing on schedule within the same timeframe.

Aurum Resources managing director Dr Caigen Wang said: “We are hitting multiple broad shallow, open-pitable gold intercepts from this latest round of step-back diamond drilling at Napié’s Tchaga deposit. Most of these intercepts are outside of the current MRE and have been drilled on a 100m line spacing, and in places down to over 400m vertical depth, well below the current MRE. Within this we are seeing a higher-grade core of around 400m strike, which includes our previous result 17m @ 9.38 g/t gold4 from 236m. Drilling is ongoing and we are awaiting assays, which will be used for the planned MRE update in Q1 CY2026” 

Napié is located 30km southeast of the city of Korhogo, within the Lower Proterozoic Birimian Daloa greenstone belt, a prolific gold-producing region in Côte d’Ivoire. 

A 23-kilometre-long gold-in-soil anomaly coincides with a major shear zone that extends more than 30 kilometres and is interpreted to be a key control on gold mineralisation. Gold is hosted predominantly in en echelon quartz veins within felsic to mafic volcanic rocks, with additional mineralisation in intrusive units. Significantly, only 13 per cent of the Napié Shear has been tested to date.

Aurum’s shares closed 1.7 per cent higher at 60 cents yesterday, outperforming the broader market and reflecting growing investor confidence as the gold price continues to surge. The yellow metal is up more than 60 per cent this year, currently trading around A$6,369 per ounce.

The company remains well-funded, boasting $43 million in cash and no debt, providing ample firepower to continue drilling and development activities.

With strong grades, growing scale and multiple catalysts on the horizon, Aurum continues to deliver the sort of consistent news flow that keeps West African gold stories firmly on investors’ radars.

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