Aurum Resources continues Côte d’Ivoire gold rush with high-grade discoveries
Aurum Resources (ASX: AUE) has completed a strong period of growth at its new Côte d’Ivoire project with drilling success in the gold-rich nation.
Aurum opened the Côte d’Ivoire chapter of its story when it entered into a binding heads of agreement to acquire specialist West African drilling company PlusOr Global and its interest in the highly prospective Boundiali gold project in mid-November 2023.
Using two company-owned diamond drill rigs and around 10,000m consumables that came with the acquisition, Aurum rapidly moved into the exploration phase with instant success.
The company later added a third rig to help accelerate its exploration plans, aimed at drilling 2,600 metres per month.
Initial success
Early drilling activities identified high-grade gold and multiple shallow and wide gold intercepts, including 73m at 2.15 grams per tonne gold from 172m with 4m at 18.63g/t.
Aurum has also successfully completed a heavily-oversubscribed $7 million capital raise, leaving it with a bank balance of $3.7m at the end of the quarter.
Since then, Aurum has added a further $3.3m in mid-April via a second tranche of funds.
Expanded Boundiali project
Aurum recently expanded the Boundiali project – which is located within the same greenstone belt as the Syama (11.5 million ounces) and Sissingue (1Moz) gold mines to the north, Tongon (5Moz) to the north-east and Koné (4.5Moz) project to the south – by adding the strategically significant and advanced Boundiali South tenement.
With its strong bank balance and expanding Boundiali position, Aurum plans to continue drilling to take advantage of its low-cost operation.
Key appointments
During the quarter, Aurum appointed Dr Caigen Wang as managing director to lead growth and development of the gold projects in the region.
Dr Wang earned a highly-regarded reputation for his decade-plus management of Tietto Minerals (ASX: TIE), which he led from scratch to discovering the Abujar gold project, building the mine on that site and increasing the company’s gold resources to nearly 4Moz.
The company also added experienced exploration manager Yaya Ouattara and non-executive director Mark Strizek over the period.