Gold at BDT2 is hosted in a thick north-south trending sandstone unit sandwiched between volcano-sedimentary rocks. Notably, the gold is free-milling, meaning it is relatively straightforward to recover via conventional processing.
The gold is associated with fine disseminated pyrite – an iron-sulphide mineral – and an alteration suite that includes hematite (iron oxide), silica, chlorite, tourmaline, quartz veinlets, carbonate and albite, which is a common rock-forming mineral.
Aurum Resources managing director Dr Caigen Wang said: “We have again hit shallow high-grade gold intercepts at BDT2, with these new results set to deliver both growth of our gold resources and increased confidence. Gold mineralisation remains open and, on some sections, we have extended gold mineralisation by up to 180m below the current resource.”
Most significantly for Aurum, gold mineralisation appears to remain open along strike and at depth across the 13km-long by 3km-wide mineralised corridor at BDT2, leaving plenty of room for further resource growth. Aurum is well cashed up to drive that growth, boasting an unaudited war chest of about $40.1 million as at the end of December.
The funding will allow the company to drive an aggressive exploration push this year, with up to 100,000m of diamond drilling planned at Boundiali. With 12 drill rigs already on site, Aurum is using the fleet to expand and de-risk its existing resources, while also hunting down fresh targets flagged by earlier soil sampling and regional mapping.
The company also plans another 30,000m of drilling at the Napié gold project – about 100km southeast of the main Boundiali block – to build on that project’s existing 870,000-ounce resource.
Management says the key near-term catalysts over the next two months include updated resource estimates for both projects and a prefeasibility study on Aurum’s proposed Boundiali open pit to evaluate its economics and technical viability.
Further Boundiali resource updates are expected to follow mid and late-year. With ongoing drilling, a funded growth plan, and a string of major milestones ahead, Aurum is building real momentum at Boundiali and appears to be positioning the project as a standout gold development story in Côte d’Ivoire.
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