Aurum strikes rich West African gold trifecta ahead of resource lift

West African gold explorer Aurum Resources has delivered another round of solid gold hits from its flagship 3.22-million-ounce Boundiali gold project in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa, extending known gold mineralisation across three key deposits within its extensive BM tenement area, just weeks before completing a planned major resource update.

The company has unveiled assays from 60 diamond drillholes totalling 10,649 metres put into its BMT1, BMT2 and BMT3 deposits, three separate but closely spaced gold zones clustered in the northern third of its 80 per cent-owned BM tenement. The work forms part of Aurum’s recently expanded 150,000m diamond drilling campaign to expand the Boundiali project’s already significant combined resource base.

The latest results from the northernmost BMT1 deposit, which already hosts a gold resource of 320,000 ounces, include a solid 29-metre intersection grading 2.08 grams per tonne gold (g/t) from 167m downhole depth. That intercept includes a richer 20.24-metre core at 2.82g/t gold. A second hole at the prospect returned 29.38m at 1.08g/t gold from 108.22m depth, containing a higher-grade slice of 2.09m at 7.38g/t gold.

At the BMT3 deposit, 12 kilometres south of BMT1 and featuring an impressive 18.6 million tonne resource for 750,000 ounces of gold, drilling hit a notable 5.85m assaying 8.77g/t gold from 335.15m, including a punchy 3.85-metre section at 13.02g/t gold. A second mentionable intercept in the same ground yielded 18.5m at 2.54g/t gold from a shallow 49.5m, containing a 7-metre zone at 5.54g/t gold.

Significantly, drilling at the BMT2 prospect, contiguous with and west of BMT1 and currently without a defined resource, also returned encouraging results, including 7.46m at 1.34g/t gold from 84m, including 2.46m at 3.40g/t gold. A second hole gave up 9.49m at 0.94g/t gold from 80.51m, including 3.49m running 2g/t gold. Management says its latest work at BMT2 is aimed at establishing a maiden inferred resource for the prospect.

The company’s drilling campaign across the BM ground comprised a mix of infill, step-out and extensional holes to test the limits of the mineralisation, upgrade inferred resources to the higher-confidence indicated category and establish new resources.

Aurum says gold mineralisation at the BM deposits remains open along strike and at depth, pointing to significant resource growth potential. Results from this latest drilling batch will inform the company’s next Boundiali mineral resource estimate update, targeted for early this quarter.

The company is in an unusual and enviable position, operating its own fleet of 16 diamond drill rigs, a strategic advantage that lets it aggressively explore its vast holdings across a wide footprint, avoid delays, manage rig servicing, and fast-track resource growth.

Aurum aims to drill a whopping 180,000m this calendar year, with 150,000m proposed to test its plethora of Boundiali targets and another 30,000m planned for its 1.16 million ounce Napié gold project, an estimated 100km southeast of Boundiali.