Aurum Resources is on a serious roll, hitting more gold, including a bonanza 0.65-metre intercept at 41.38 grams per tonne (g/t) gold outside its existing 570,000-ounce, 100-per cent-owned BST1 gold resource, ahead of a key resource update for the project due by the end of this month. The resource lies within the Boundiali South tenement at the southern extremity of the company's flagship 3.22-million-ounce Boundiali gold project in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa.
The latest assays come from 25 diamond drillholes totalling 7121.75m at the BST1 deposit, as part of Aurum's massive 150,000-metre diamond drilling campaign at Boundiali to test target strike and depth extensions and upgrade resource confidence.
The headline hit of 0.65m at 41.38g/t gold fell within a broader 9.55-metre section grading 5.18g/t from just 75.45m downhole depth. Other significant high-grade results - from three separate holes - include 1m at 43.93g/t gold from 268m downhole, 1.26m at 23.10g/t gold from a shallow 25m and 5m at 5.26g/t gold from 283m.
Two additional holes also gave up 13m at 2.08g/t gold from 258m and 20m at 1.25g/t gold from 145m, including 6m going 2.29g/t gold. The drilling confirms the BST1 gold system remains open along strike and at depth.
The results from this most recent round of drilling - including those still to come - will be incorporated into Aurum's upcoming resource estimate, which had a drill collar cut-off date of 30 September and is slated for release by the end of October. The updated resource numbers will inform a definitive feasibility study (DFS) for Boundiali, which Aurum expects to deliver in late 2026.
Aurum Resources managing director Dr Caigen Wang said: “We have received assays for a further 25 diamond holes totalling 7,122m at BST1, all drilled before the 30 September 2026 cut-off date for our next Boundiali Mineral Resource Estimate. These holes form part of the 120 holes for more than 31,000m (based on drill logs) completed at BST1 since the last Mineral Resource update, drilled to extend known mineralisation and to increase confidence in Inferred Mineral Resources.”
Aurum is moving at a furious pace in West Africa, running 16 of its own diamond drill rigs across its project portfolio. The company is well funded for its aggressive exploration and development push, with an unaudited cash balance of more than $95 million following a recent $52.5 million placement.
The flagship Boundiali project forms part of a 4.38-million-ounce combined gold resource base, which also includes the 1.16-million-ounce Napié gold project, also in Côte d'Ivoire, just 100 kilometres southeast of Aurum's extensive Boundiali tenement block. The company plans to drill 30,000m at Napié, starting this quarter.
Both of Aurum's key gold projects sit within the richly endowed and increasingly competitive Birimian Greenstone Belt, which extends over five contiguous nations in West Africa and hosts a plethora of multi-million-ounce gold deposits.
The company's ground lies in the immediate neighbourhood of major operations including Perseus Mining’s Sissingué mine on the border of Côte d'Ivoire and Mali, Resolute Mining’s massive 9.1-million-ounce Syama mine in Mali and Barrick Gold’s Tongon mine, also in Côte d'Ivoire, only 60km east of the northern end of Aurum's 80-per cent-held BM tenement.
With its fleet of company-owned diamond drill rigs generating core around the clock, a veritable mountain of cash in the bank and a resource update just weeks away, Aurum is not letting the grass grow under its feet in West Africa. The market’s attention will likely now turn to the next major catalyst – an end-of-month resource update that should reveal just how much bigger Boundiali has become after the relentless drilling assault on its already substantial gold endowment.
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By Doug Bright
