Aurum rigs roar as thick high-grade gold hits stack up in West Africa

Aurum Resources has unleashed another wave of weighty gold hits at its Boundiali project in Côte d’Ivoire, with drilling at its BDT2 deposit continuing to stretch the system’s scale and sharpen its credentials as a serious West African contender. 

The latest diamond campaign has delivered thick, tenor-rich intercepts while stepping beyond the current resource boundaries, setting the stage for further growth.

The 40-hole program at BDT2 has clocked up more than 12,000m so far and is aimed at bulking up the resource and converting lower-confidence inferred tonnes into the higher-confidence indicated category.

Leading the charge was a standout intercept of 36m at 1.99 grams per tonne gold (g/t) from 280m, including a 1.85-metre spike of high-grade material grading 27.97g/t. 

A second hole pulled in 22m at 1.40 g/t from 97m, while a third intersection struck 18.5m going 1.18g/t from 245m and featured a 3.5-metre slice running at 4.6g/t gold. Additional two-metre-plus zones between 115m and 150m depth topped 20g/t gold, delivering a compelling combination of scale and grade.

Multiple mineralised zones in each hole have become a defining feature, pointing to a layered, laterally extensive gold system. The company says the infill, step-out and deeper drilling has now tightened geological certainty and stretched the mineralised envelope at BDT2, bolstering near-term mine plans and opening the door to longer-term growth.

BDT2 sits within a sprawling 13km structural corridor. Gold is hosted in a north-south trending sandstone unit, framed by volcanic-sedimentary rocks. The mineralisation is largely free-milling and associated with disseminated sulphides and an alteration suite of silica, hematite and chlorite, a geological signature often linked to low-cost mining.

True widths are tracking between 60 and 85 per cent of downhole intercepts, underscoring the genuine heft of the mineralised zones. Notably, recent drilling has cut gold well beyond the current resource shell, marking a material expansion of the known system and reinforcing its open-ended nature along strike and at depth.

Aurum Resources managing director Dr Caigen Wang said: “The deeper holes confirm the gold system remains open at depth and most of the new holes have intersected mineralisation outside the current resource boundaries, highlighting the strong potential for continued growth at Boundiali.”

The company continues to keep its foot on the accelerator, with 14 diamond rigs humming across Boundiali as part of a beefed-up 130,000-metre drilling blitz planned for 2026.

Much of the exploration to date has focused on surface-defined targets, leaving significant scope for fresh discoveries across the wider corridor as deeper, more aggressive drilling continues to test new positions.

Across its portfolio, Aurum now commands a combined resource of 4.2 million ounces, spanning the company’s 3.03-million-ounce Boundiali project and its 1.16-million-ounce Napié project.

Attention is now pivoting towards the development of its flagship project, with a prefeasibility study due in May expected to outline an open pit mining scenario, followed by a definitive feasibility study later in the year. 

Beyond BDT2, Aurum is also advancing a pipeline of regional prospects across its broader Boundiali landholding. Multiple targets across the project’s BD, BM and BST prospects are being tested as part of a growing multi-deposit system. The rigs are also probing fresh anomalies along the 13km corridor, hunting for repeat structures that could stack on low-cost additional ounces and stretch the project's mine life.

To the southeast, 100km from Boundiali, the company is also stepping up work at its Napié project, where a suite of prospects has produced its own run of high-grade gold hits and is emerging as a complementary second growth front. 

Backing up its intense drilling program, Aurum is armed with $61M in cash as of the end of December and a self-sufficient drilling fleet, leaving the company well equipped to sustain its aggressive growth strategy as it edges closer to production decisions.

High-grade hits keep stacking up across both Boundiali and Napié, helping position the company as a multi-asset gold player in a region attracting increasing global attention. With Boundiali rapidly taking shape as a district-scale gold camp and plenty of ground still to test, the company appears to have significant momentum and potentially many more ounces yet to uncover.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au