West African gold explorer Aurum Resources has returned a volley of high-grade gold hits from its flagship 3.22-million-ounce Boundiali gold project in Côte d'Ivoire, headlined by a spectacular shallow intercept of 5.63 metres grading 31.79 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from just 32m.
That standout hit included a bonanza-grade slice of 2.63m running at an eye-watering 67.6g/t gold.
The results are from 22 diamond drill holes at the company's BST1 deposit, which already holds a 340,000-ounce resource, and form part of a massive 100,000m drilling campaign at Boundiali. Aurum is furiously drilling to both grow the existing resource and upgrade its confidence ahead of a definitive feasibility study.
Other impressive high-grade results from the latest batch of assays include a 3.07-metre hit at 17.2g/t gold from 201.93m, which contained an even richer 0.5-metre section going a coffee-spitting 104.13g/t gold.
The drill bit also delivered 2m at 18.71g/t gold from 149m and another shallow intercept of 6.88m at 3.05g/t gold from surface, including 1.5m at 13.05g/t.
The latest campaign served up a suite of broader hits too, demonstrating the scale of the mineralised system at BST1. These included a 30-metre intercept grading 0.96g/t gold from 174m, 10m at 2.42g/t gold from 185m and 20m at 1.16g/t gold from 169m.
Aurum says the drilling has confirmed gold mineralisation down-dip outside the current mineral resource estimate, with the system remaining open.
Aurum Resources managing director Dr Caigen Wang said: “These 22 holes form part of the ongoing 100,000m CY2026 Boundiali program, targeting resource growth and higher confidence ahead of the next Boundiali MRE update. These holes have intersected shallow, high-grade mineralisation, including 5.63m @ 31.79 g/t Au from 32m. The shear-hosted gold mineralisation at BST1 shows thick, wide zones with multiple intersections downhole, and as demonstrated in our PFS, this style of mineralisation is amenable to open pit mining.”
Perhaps more tantalisingly for Aurum’s resource growth ambitions, recent assays from its BST2 prospect, 20 kilometres to the northwest - currently with no defined resource - also delivered the goods. The best result was a three-metre intercept grading a solid 27.65g/t gold from 144m, including a one-metre section at a bonanza 78.13g/t gold. Another solid hit at BST2 included two metres at 5.10g/t gold from 117m. Aurum says the results from BST2, formerly known as Gbemou, back up historical work that identified a two kilometre-long gold-in-soil anomaly at the prospect.
Aurum has been on a tear in Côte d'Ivoire, rapidly building a significant gold inventory. The company tabled a maiden resource of 1.6 million ounces at Boundiali in December 2024 and, through aggressive exploration, grew it to an impressive 3.22 million ounces by May 2026.
Additionally, the company achieved environmental approval for a six-million-tonne-per-annum gold mine in May. This was followed by the delivery of a pre feasibility study, projecting an 11-year mine life delivering an emphatic 1.5 million ounces of gold and a maiden reserve of 1.21 million ounces in June.
Alongside its flagship Boundiali play, Aurum added another serious chunk of gold to its armoury after snapping up Mako Gold in March 2025, bringing the nearby 1.16-million-ounce Napié project into the fold and swelling the company’s total group resource to a hefty 4.4 million ounces. Napié features over 26 km of undrilled gold-bearing shear, potentially adding to the company's strong growth profile.
A key part of the company’s strategy has been its ownership of a fleet of 16 diamond drill rigs, allowing it to potentially explore faster and more cost-effectively than many of its peers.
With a healthy cash balance of A$54.6 million at the end of June, Aurum is well-funded to maintain its cracking pace. The company plans to drill a total of 130,000m in the current calendar year, with 100,000m at Boundiali and an additional 30,000m to begin at Napié in the fourth quarter.
The results from the current campaign will feed directly into the next major resource update for Boundiali, which is targeted for early in the fourth quarter of this year. This will in turn feed into a definitive feasibility study for the project, which is expected before the year is out. The company is also looking to finalise staged project financing in the coming months.
With a clear development pathway, a rapidly growing resource base and a significant war chest to fund its ambitions, Aurum appears to have all its ducks in a row as it marches towards its goal of becoming a major West African gold producer.
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By Murray Ward
