Aurum Resources has unveiled a spectacular set of drill results from the BST1 target at its flagship Boundiali gold project in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa. Standout hits included a stunning 2.63-metre hit grading 76.74 grams per tonne gold from 195.2m, containing a 1.3-metre core running at an eye-watering 155g/t gold.
The latest batch of assays, which have landed just ahead of a key resource update at Boundiali, also featured a thick, high-grade interval of 24m at 6.31g/t gold from 108m, including an even richer 7-metre section going 19.25g/t gold.
These results came from 22 diamond drill holes spanning 6172.8m at the project’s 22 million tonne, 570,000-ounce BST1 gold deposit in the southern extremity of Aurum's extensive Boundiali tenure. The diamond drilling is part of a massive and expanded 150,000m campaign for 2026 at Boundiali, aimed at growing the project’s already significant 3.22-million-ounce resource.
Other notable findings from three additional holes include a shallow 1.43-metre intercept assaying 53.54g/t gold from just 74m, 9.5m at 7.59g/t gold from 168.5m, featuring 2.85m at 21.12g/t gold and 1.64m at 39.20 g/t gold within a broader five-metre interval grading 13.19g/t gold from 195m.
The results spectacularly reinforce the scale and grade of the BST1 deposit, particularly given the relatively shallow depths of many of the intercepts. Notably, several hits sit outside the limits of the present BST1 resource envelope, with the gold system remaining open along strike and at depth.
Aurum says its drill rods will continue turning on the BM and BST tenements. To date, its Boundiali drilling has only targeted the most obvious outcropping anomalies, leaving what the company believes is significant potential for blind discoveries that could open another avenue for continued resource growth.
The new data will inform Aurum's next resource update for Boundiali, slated for early in this year's fourth quarter, which will then flow on into a definitive feasibility study for Boundiali, expected later in the year.
The company’s West African portfolio embraces a combined group resource of 4.38 million ounces of gold, split between its 3.22-million-ounce Boundiali project and the nearby 1.16-million-ounce Napié project, 100km southeast of Boundiali.
Aurum Resources managing director Dr Caigen Wang said: “We are encouraged that our drilling at BST1 is on track to materially increase the Indicated Resource (currently 6.9Mt @ 0.9 g/t Au for 190koz) in Boundiali’s next MRE update, expected early in the December quarter."
Boundiali sits in a revered geological neighbourhood. It lies within the same Birimian-age greenstone belt that hosts major operations such as Resolute Mining’s 11.5-million-ounce Syama gold mine in Mali, Perseus Mining’s 1.4-million-ounce Sissingué mine on the Côte d'Ivoire-Mali border and Montage Gold’s 6-million-ounce Koné project, 100km southwest and along strike from Boundiali.
Three months ago, Aurum delivered a prefeasibility study for Boundiali that outlined a maiden probable group ore reserve of 42.1 million tonnes at 0.9g/t gold for a total of 1.21 million ounces of gold, from four proposed mining areas, namely BDT1, BDT2, BMT3 and BST.
The company remains supremely well-funded to continue its aggressive exploration and development push, revealing just two days ago it has secured A$52.5 million in firm commitments from a single-tranche institutional placement. Aurum says it expects to have a cash balance of more than A$95 million once the placement is complete.
Aurum will apply part of its swollen treasury to early procurement of long-lead items for the proposed Boundiali processing plant, site access road construction, land acquisition for the new plant and tailings storage facility, exploration drilling and working capital.
Key to its strategy is the company's ownership of 16 diamond drill rigs, which allows for faster and more cost-effective exploration. A massive 180,000m of drilling is planned for this calendar year - 150,000m at Boundiali and a further 30,000m focused on Napié in the fourth quarter.
With environmental approvals for Boundiali received in May and three mining licence applications in train, the company is well-established on a clear development path. Management has laid out an ambitious timeline, targeting the finalisation of funding and the start of construction in early 2027, with first gold production slated for the first half of 2028.
Armed with a war chest of over $95 million, its own swarm of drill rigs punching holes into multiple high-priority targets and a favourable geological realm that seems to keep on giving, Aurum appears to have all the right pieces in place. As the data from its latest campaign feeds into the upcoming resource update, it may not be long before the market gains a clearer picture of just how big Boundiali could become.
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By Doug Bright
