African scout drilling reveals rolled gold hit for Aurum

Aurum Resources has scored a suite of high-grade gold hits charging as high as 45 grams per tonne from scout drilling at just the second target to be tested at its Boundiali project in West Africa’s Côte d’Ivoire.

Diamond drilling designed to test a 1.7km-by-1km gold prospect revealed solid initial results, with a 6m section going 9.95g/t gold from 165m including 2m at 28.9g/t from 169m. The 2m intersection also contained 1m at the peak of 45.85g/t from 170m.

Wider hits returned 27m grading 1.14g/t gold from 163m including 8m going 2.25g/t from 177m, while an 18m section at 2.58g/t gold from 110m was also recorded. Management says the latest target was defined by previous exploration work and sits within a 13km-by-3km gold-mineralised corridor that includes three prospects that are currently being drill-tested.

The prospect is about 4km north-east of an initial target where the company recorded a whopping 73m intercept going 2.15g/t gold from 172m. 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.

Aurum Resources managing director Dr Caigen Wang said: “We are very excited to see these results from the second gold prospect on the BD tenement of the Boundiali gold project. We are encouraged to see these shallow, wide gold mineralised intercepts also include high-grade gold shoots such as 6m @ 9.95 g/t Au from 165m including 2m @ 28.9 g/t Au in hole DSDD0023.”

Wang said the company had a strong financial platform to help it launch into more resource definition drilling at Boundiali following a recent $7 million capital raise, with plans to increase its drilling capacity to 4000m a month. Management recently committed to buying a third, more powerful diamond rig to bolster its drill fleet and he was confident it would help define new targets at the BD and BM tenements when it is up and running within a week.

Aurum has completed 82 diamond holes across its Boundiali tenements covering 13,835m since drilling began back in October last year. More than 4000 core samples are at the laboratory, with assay results expected in the coming weeks.

As results continue to come in and drilling continues, the company is expecting to deliver a maiden mineral resource at the West African operation before the end of the year.

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