Aurum’s stellar run of gold hits continues in Cote d'Ivoire

Aurum Resources continues its stellar run of quality gold intercepts from its Boundiali project in Côte d'Ivoire, nailing a best hit in the latest results of 34 metres assaying 2.32 grams per tonne (g/t) gold.

The hit, from 56m depth at the company’s BDT1 target, includes 9m at an average grade of 5.44g/t gold.  A second-best result delivered 48m going 1.27g/t gold from 73m, including 8m running 3.11g/t gold.

A third hole intercepted 11.02m assaying 1.29g/t gold from 43.5m, including 4m at 1.8g/t gold and 37.6m going 1.24g/t gold from 55.5m, including 5m at 2.67g/t gold.

The results build on an impressive array of at least a dozen previously reported long runs of good grades, including the longest intercept of 90m at 1.16g/t gold from 143m, which included 51m at 1.04g/t gold and 35m at 1.47g/t gold.

The best grade in that suite of previously reported holes came from a 12.22m intercept assaying 14.56g/t gold from 275m, including a 1m hit at a breath-catching 163.42g/t gold.      

The latest results come from 14 diamond drill holes that contributed a further 4992m to this year’s assertive 100,000m drilling objective for the Boundiali project.

The massive program is a measure of the urgency the company is lending to its goal of completing at least two estimated resource updates and delivering a project-wide pre-feasibility study by year’s end.

This campaign’s current phase is testing the BDT1 target in the BD tenement, the southwestern block of Aurum’s three adjacent licence areas. 

Aurum has already defined seven target areas in the BD ground and has delivered initial mineral resources for two of them. 

These resources include its BDT1 target, which contains an initial estimated mineral resource of 11.9 million tonnes at 0.9g/t gold for 340,000 ounces of gold, and the BDT2 target, which hosts an impressive initial estimated mineral resource of 16.3Mt averaging 0.8g/t gold for 440,000 ounces.   

All of the currently defined BD targets are arrayed along a broad 16-kilometre-long north-south structural corridor occupying the entire north-south width of the tenement.

The 4-5km wide mineralised corridor is transected by multiple diagonal northeast-southwest shears, which are likely tensional shear responses to strike displacements along north-south faulting within the corridor.

Aurum says gold mineralisation at BDT1 is hosted in a thick, north-south trending sandstone unit, bounded by hanging wall and footwall volcano-sedimentary rocks. 

The free-milling gold is associated with fine disseminated pyrite and a broad suite of alteration-related minerals, including hematite, silica, chlorite, tourmaline, quartz veinlets, albite and carbonate. 

Metallurgical testwork late last year reported strong gold recoveries at better than 95 per cent from Boundiali samples.

Aurum Resources managing director Dr Caigen Wang said: “We're pleased to report further shallow, wide gold intercepts from BD Target 1 at Boundiali, highlighted by 34m at 2.32g/t gold from 56m, including 9m at 5.44g/t gold in hole DSDD0157. These results are from drilling designed to upgrade inferred resources to indicated, test the limits of known gold mineralisation, and incorporate previously unclassified mineralisation into the next MRE update.”

Tantalisingly, the structural corridor in the BD tenement can confidently be interpreted as extending southwards into extensive gold anomalism and two distinct targets in the southeast of Aurum’s separate and southernmost BST tenement. 

The company has already defined a handsome initial resource at its BST1 target of 11Mt at 1g/t gold for 360,000 ounces of gold. Its largely untested Nyangboue South target lies a further 7km south of the BST1 target.

Both of those targets in the BST tenement are centred on the southern extensions of the north-south fault corridor in the BD ground, where Aurum will continue its BDT1 drilling program, with more assays to come.

Gold mineralisation defined at all the Boundiali targets and prospects remains open along strike and at depth and the company’s massive 100,000m drilling program for the year will progressively chase areas of encouraging results.

With ten drill rigs now on call to cover the vast territory and multiple targets already defined, it is all but certain that new targets will show up.

Aurum’s immediate objectives are to build the resources and confidence levels at its current BST, BD and BM resources, with about 40,000m of drilling allocated to the task.

A further 30,000m is allocated to advancing known prospects and splicing them into two imminent inventory updates, one around mid-year and the other near the end of the year.

A further 30,000m of drilling is allocated to advancing exploration targets defined by geochemistry and mapping to help ramp up the gold ounces into next year, including scout drilling to test new targets on the BD, BM and BST tenements. 

At the separate Napié tenement block, about 120km southeast of Boundiali, Aurum is planning a further 30,000m of drilling to firm-up and/or expand the current 0.87M-ounce resource leading up to a resource update before year’s end.

The company has also slated completion of an open pit pre-feasibility study for Boundiali by the end of the year to get a solid handle on the project's economics and technical feasibility.

The company remains well-funded to meet its myriad exploration and development tasks, buoyed by a recent $35.6M private placement.

It seems certain that Aurum’s current total combined resource estimate of 1.59M ounces of gold at Boundiali will be significantly lifted when all of the numbers from the multiple areas of exploration and resource drilling are slotted into the new models. 

The project seems to be one of those rare beasts where almost every drill hole offers solid encouragement - the host structures are massive and persistent, with good continuity and carry long runs of mineralisation with an impressive occurrence of included high grades.

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