High-grade African gold hits trigger Aurum share price jump

Shares in Aurum Resources jumped more than 30 per cent this morning after it recorded a whopping 73m intercept going 2.15 grams per tonne gold from 172m at its Boundiali project in the West African nation of Côte d'Ivoire.

The impressive drill hit contained several high-grade sections, with highlights showing a 4m segment grading 18.63g/t gold from 185m including 1m at a staggering 72.11g/t from 188m. Deeper intercepts within the 73m hit also included a 5m section at 7.15g/t gold from 221m and 5m going 3.23g/t from 240m.

A second hole also recorded solid results with 36m reading 2.53g/t gold from 104m including 16m grading 5.03g/t from 110m. The 16m intercept contained several higher-grade sections including 6m at 11.39g/t gold from 115m and 2m going 30.80g/t from 119m.

The impressive results prompted Aurum’s biggest volume of shares changing hands since August, with the company’s stock touching 30c during intraday trading after yesterday’s close of 23c.

A third hole also delivered 22m at 1.98g/t gold from just 35m including 9m going 2.76g/t from 38m, while a fourth hole recorded 14m grading 1.65g/t from 76m including 5m at 3.07g/t from 80m.

The company says it has drilled 61 diamond holes within its two Boundiali tenements since October last year as part of its ongoing scout campaign, with plans set on delivering a maiden gold resource estimate for the West African operation this year.

Aurum Resources managing director Dr Caigen Wang said: “These impressive assay results represent new project-high assay intercepts and we believe we are seeing early signs of the presence of a large, fresh, high-grade gold system beyond the wide, thick oxidized gold mineralisation and all within open pittable mining depth.”

The latest drill assays continue a run of impressive drill results for the company from the start of this month, with previous assays showing a headline 4m interval grading an impressive 22.35g/t from 226m. Additional assays delivered 5m at 4.73g/t from 53.5m including 1.1m grading a healthy 20.35g/t and 16.64m at 1.45g/t from 56.26m including 10.4m going 2.11g/t.

Management recently committed to buying a third, more powerful diamond rig to bolster its drill fleet and believes its total drilling capacity will be about 4000m per month when the new rig is up and running, which could be as soon as next month.

Aurum already has two diamond-core rigs working at Boundiali. It took ownership of both rigs as part of its acquisition of original tenement holder PlusOr Global in December last year and wasted no time in kicking off the scout drilling program.

Management says Côte d'Ivoire has a stable government and is emerging as a serious gold-producing region. The West African nation hosts eight operating gold mines that are delivering more than one million ounces per annum and are owned by well-known miners including Tietto Minerals, Barrick Gold, Perseus Mining and Allied Gold Mining.

About 50km to the north of Aurum’s ground, Perseus’ Sissingue gold mine is digging away at a 1.4-million-ounce gold resource and about 120km to the south, Montage Gold’s Koné project contains 4 million ounces of gold.

Management says it has a strong financial platform to help it launch into more resource definition drilling at Boundiali, with a $3.9 million cash balance expected to soon be complemented by a further $3.3 million from a recent capital raising following shareholder approval. It says the gold mineralisation at its “BD” tenement remains open along strike and at depth and believes it is on the trail of a “large gold system”.

With gold prices currently hovering around the $3300 per ounce mark, Aurum could be timing its run perfectly as it continues to deliver solid results from its exciting Côte d'Ivoire operation.

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