Aurum Resources has expanded the golden footprint at its Boundiali gold project in the West African country of Côte D’Ivoire after snapping up an adjoining tenement that features an advanced exploration permit area.
The 167.34-square-kilometre Boundiali South (BST) ground, now formerly owned by Turaco Gold and Predictive Discovery, has previously thrown up solid gold hits including 20m at 10.45 grams per tonne from 38m, 30m running 8.3g/t from 39m, 28m going 4.04g/t from 3m and another 6m going 3.29g/t gold from 47m – all from three separate holes. And they were far from just a handful of one-hit wonders, with other decent intersections in the gram-metre ranges of 71.1 (that is, 9m at 7.9g/t), 65.34, 27.14 and 25.8.
Diamond drilling results by Turaco reported to ASX in November 2021 and June 2022 also revealed a string of quality gold hits in 13 holes. They included a longest intercept of 17m at 1.49g/t from 116m and a best grade intercept of 4m going 8.34g/t from 21m, including 2m at 16.36g/t gold.
The new ground for Aurum will complement its BM and BD tenement holdings at Boundiali.
Aurum Resources managing director Dr Caigen Wang said: “The wide, high-grade gold intercepts at the BST tenement are in line with our recently reported excellent gold intercept such as 73m at 2.15g/t and 4 other diamond holes on our BD tenement. The combination of the three Boundiali tenements not only increases our prospective land holding but also enhances our confidence in defining a large quantity of gold resources in 2024 and beyond.”
Management says part of the Boundiali South permit area lies within a classified forest zone and requires approval from the Cote D'Ivoire Government to enable mining activities inside the area.
To satisfy the new acquisition agreement, Aurum must either renew the BST exploration permit or obtain a granted replacement for the ground, with no new encumbrances or limitations on future mining rights. Turaco, which held 89 per cent of BST, can choose to receive a payment of either $800,000 in cash or shares to a value of $1.2 million.
Aurum’s Boundiali gold project already consists of two contiguous granted licences covering part of the underexplored southern extension of the highly-prospective Boundiali belt where a deformed synclinal greenstone horizon traverses finer-grained basin sediments and to the west, Tarkwaian clastic rocks lie in contact with a granitic margin.
The belt hosts Resolute Mining’s Syama gold operation and Tabakoroni deposit in Mali, while the southerly extension of the belt into Côte d’Ivoire hosts several high-grade discoveries including Perseus Mining’s Sissingué gold operation and Bagoé deposits and Montage Gold’s 4.5-million-ounce Koné gold discovery.
Aurum has an 80 per cent interest in the westernmost 260sq km permit area and is earning into the eastern 400sq km permit area of which it currently holds 15 per cent and can earn up to 80 per cent after fulfilling three phases of exploration.
The company says historic exploration in the eastern ground includes 93 air-core (AC) drillholes and four reverse-circulation (RC) holes, in addition to airborne geophysics, geological mapping and extensive soil sampling. The western permit area has had 91 RC holes put into it for 6229m, along with geochemical analysis and modelling.
One look at the geographic and geological associations of the three adjacent permit areas and consideration of their common, extensive and high-tenor gold, is enough to see that Aurum’s new acquisition is a good strategic move – and a win-win for both parties. It is also one that will give Aurum more room to move and a high probability of extending its potential resource base at Boundiali.
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By Doug Bright
