Aurum Resources has released more encouraging high-grade results, including one metre that assayed more than one ounce per tonne gold from its ongoing 100,000m infill diamond drilling program at the company’s 2.41-million-ounce Boundiali gold project in Côte d'Ivoire, Africa.
The drill bit is currently focused on growing and firming up Aurum’s BDT2 resource in the southwestern part of the main tenement block. and the latest holes appear to have delivered the goods, punching into multiple high-grade zones while also thickening the broader gold halo around them.
The standout result from the latest suite of results came from shallow depths, with the hole returning 4.03m assaying 10.22 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from only 13.50m depth, including a punchy 1.50m going a very respectable 27.13g/t gold, highlighting the huge gold potential lurking in the upper levels of the system.
Other strong hits included 1m running at over a whopping one ounce per tonne – or 31.24g/t gold - from 121.5m, within a broader 7.15m section at 4.71g/t gold from 121.15m, while a third hole bored through 20m going 1.18g/t gold from 136m, including a 1-metre slice grading 8.80g/t gold.
Two more holes intercepted 17m at 1.33g/t gold from 118m, including a 4-metre section running at 2.83g/t gold, and 15m at 1.41g/t gold from 93.8m, including 5.76m going 2.29g/t gold, respectively.
Meanwhile, strong hints of broader mineralised zones have continued to reinforce the area’s prospectivity. Results included a chunky 40.4-metre hit at 0.59g/t gold from 176.6 metres, spiked by a one-metre intercept grading 4.62g/t, alongside another intersection of 20m running at 1g/t gold from 448 metres, featuring a near half-ounce splash at 13.43g/t.
A third hole struck 19 metres at 0.98g/t gold from 130 metres, which included a tidy 1.9-metre slice going 4.45g/t gold.
The latest numbers have only poured fuel on the fire, building on earlier excitement after the drill bit delivered a string of previous standout hits from the BDT2 campaign, including a massive 74-metre run grading 1g/t gold from 167 metres and 18 metres going at a punchy 3.93g/t gold from 198 metres.
Gold at BDT2 is hosted in a thick north-south trending sandstone unit sandwiched between volcano-sedimentary rocks. Notably, the gold is free-milling, meaning it is relatively straightforward to recover via conventional processing.
The gold is associated with fine disseminated pyrite - an iron-sulphide mineral - and an alteration suite that includes hematite (iron oxide), silica, chlorite, tourmaline, quartz veinlets, carbonate and albite, which is a common rock-forming mineral.
Aurum Resources managing director Dr Caigen Wang said: “We have again hit shallow high-grade gold intercepts at BDT2, with these new results set to deliver both growth of our gold resources and increased confidence. Gold mineralisation remains open and, on some sections, we have extended gold mineralisation by up to 180m below the current resource.”
Most significantly for Aurum, gold mineralisation appears to remain open along strike and at depth across the 13km-long by 3km-wide mineralised corridor at BDT2, leaving plenty of room for further resource growth. Aurum is well cashed up to drive that growth, boasting an unaudited war chest of about $40.1 million as at the end of December.
The funding will allow the company to drive an aggressive exploration push this year, with up to 100,000m of diamond drilling planned at Boundiali. With 12 drill rigs already on site, Aurum is using the fleet to expand and de-risk its existing resources, while also hunting down fresh targets flagged by earlier soil sampling and regional mapping.
The company also plans another 30,000m of drilling at the Napié gold project – about 100km southeast of the main Boundiali block - to build on that project’s existing 870,000-ounce resource.
Management says the key near-term catalysts over the next two months include updated resource estimates for both projects and a prefeasibility study on Aurum’s proposed Boundiali open pit to evaluate its economics and technical viability.
Further Boundiali resource updates are expected to follow mid and late-year. With ongoing drilling, a funded growth plan, and a string of major milestones ahead, Aurum is building real momentum at Boundiali and appears to be positioning the project as a standout gold development story in Côte d'Ivoire.
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By Doug Bright
