Drilling rewards Aurum with 40m Côte D’Ivoire gold hit

A 14-hole step-back diamond drilling program has rewarded Aurum Resources with a gold hit of 40m at 1.03 grams per tonne from 136m at its Boundiali project in Côte d'Ivoire as management moves to develop a large-scale mine.

New results released by company today from its latest 4485m program show that the headline hit also features a 5m slice at 1.7g/t gold, with other results including 11m at 2.15g/t from 169m that has 4m at 4.14g/t, and 10m at 2.02g/t from 322m with a notable 2m at 9.18g/t.

According to management, gold mineralisation at the BD Target 1 in the central zone of its leases, remains open both along strike and at depth, extending as deep as 385m below the surface.

The company has also completed an induced-polarisation (IP) survey, covering a 2.8km-by-4.5km area, which will provide more detailed information to help it zero in on further drill targets. Its plan is to test at depth down to 900m.

Aurum Resources managing director Dr Caigen Wang said: “We're delighted with another shallow, wide gold intercept at BD Target 1. Gold mineralisation remains open along strike and at depth, with intersects as deep as 385m below surface. Every hole we drill helps us understand the controls on the high-grade gold shoots we find within these wider intercepts.”

With six rigs on site, management expects to achieve 10,000m of drilling per month, systemically exploring the full potential of the 13km-by-3km target zone at BD and its other tenements within the Boundiali gold project. To help improve operations, new vehicles, a centralised camp and a second laboratory have been built to provide better efficiency and assay turnaround times.

With $20 million in cash at bank, the drill program has now been accelerated as Aurum pushes to reach an inaugural JORC resource for Boundiali before Christmas. By bringing in two additional diamond drill rigs to site, drilling rates have risen to 10,000m per month and are forecast to reach 45,000m for the year.

As well as its current focus on BD1, where step-back drilling is continuing, the company has also set the diamond drill bits turning on the nearby BD2 and BD5 targets that all sit within the broader 13km-by-3km BD exploration zone. While it is still waiting for assays to be returned from the former, numbers from the latter have now been received.

Target BD5, in particular, had drawn the company’s attention in recent months because of the high level of artisanal activity. The 13-hole, 2444m program tested a 1700m strike in efforts to repeat previous exploration that included 2m at 3.42g/t from 37m.

While the results did not live up to expectations with a best hit of just 1m at 0.93g/t, management still regards the target as a point of interest.

Additionally, the drills are also pounding the broader Boundiali BM tenement, 10km to the east of BD and stretching 75km running north-to-south. As another early-stage exploration site, the company believes it holds potential for additional gold discoveries.

The Boundiali project came under Aurum’s ownership 10 months ago after it acquired PlusOr Global, which owned the rights to the prospect. That company was founded by Wang, who has now become Aurum’s managing director.

Wang is probably best-known for founding and managing Tietto Minerals, a company that discovered the massive 3.8 million-ounce Abujar gold project in central Côte d'Ivoire, before it was taken over for $651 million by Chinese gold mining giant, Zhaojin Capital.

Since then, and after joining Aurum, Wang managed to convince his ex-country manager, Yao N’Kanza – affectionately known as “Fred” – and his former exploration manager, Yaya Ouattara, to rejoin his newly-assembled team in a bid to expedite Aurum’s project and business development initiatives.

Interestingly, Yao N’Kanza recently popped up as a substantial shareholder in Aurum with 9.572 million shares, representing a 6.29 per cent holding in the company.

So, with intense drilling at both the BD and BM exploration zones ongoing, news flow will be thick on the ground as assays come through during the next few months. With six rigs churning full time on Boundiali and a maiden resource due before the end of the year, Wang and his team appear to be in a hurry to try and replicate Abujar – a mine that took just 11 months to build and put into production.

Eager market watchers of Aurum’s progress may well be hoping for an equally-speedy trajectory for the company.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au