Aurum pushes flagship Côte d’Ivoire gold resource beyond 3.2Moz
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Doug Bright
Aurum Resources took another step in the Boundiali gold project in Ivory Coast, increasing its total mineral resources by 6 percent to 3.22 million ounces, and the stated resources by 24 percent to 1.70 million ounces.
The latest update caps a period of significant growth for the company, which has expanded Boundiali from a greenfield discovery to a multi-million-ounce gold system in just over two years.
The upgrade was accomplished by infill drilling in the BDT2 deposit; here the company converted the inferred ounce into the specified category with higher confidence. As a result, total extracted resources currently stand at 1.52 million ounces, up from 1.66 million ounces previously; this reflects transformation rather than any loss of mineralization.
Aurum’s latest estimate for Boundiali includes indicated resources of 54.5 million tonnes at 1 gram per tonne (g/t) gold for 1.70 million ounces and inferred resources of 52.9 million tonnes at 0.9 g/t gold for 1.52 million ounces.
‘This rapid growth is a direct testament to our unique operational model; by owning and operating our own fleet of diamond drilling rigs.’
Aurum Resources general manager Dr. Caigen Wang
The company also highlighted a higher grade component of 1.7 g/t gold using the 1 g/t cut-off within the broader Boundiali inventory of 1.68 million ounces.
The new figures are based on Aurum’s February resource update, which showed Boundiali’s resource increased to 3.03 million ounces and resources increased by 49 per cent to 1.37 million ounces.
The latest revision adds an additional 190,000 ounces of gold to the overall supply and 330,000 ounces of gold to the specified category, with this gain coming from BDT2 alone. Aurum says there are no changes to resource counts in other deposits in the current update.
On a grouped project basis, Aurum’s total gold resource inventory increased to 4.38 million ounces, including 1.16 million ounces from the nearby Napié project, from 3.90 million ounces previously.
The company is well financed, with $61 million in cash as of March 31, and says its 100,000 meter drilling program at Boundiali is ongoing, with mineralization still open across all deposits and depths.
Aurum Resources general manager Dr. Caigen Wang said: “This MRE upgrade represents another milestone at our Boundiali Gold Project, resulting in a 24% (+330,000 oz) increase in Indicated Resources to 1.70 Moz gold. This follows an aggressive infill drilling campaign in BDT2 that has successfully converted Inferred Resources to Indicated Resources.
Beyond the identified Boundiali deposits, Aurum says many additional possibilities remain largely untested.
Management said the additional ounces will directly contribute to Aurum’s development strategy and the Boundiali feasibility study, which is evaluating a large-scale integrated open pit operation and will be completed this quarter.
With a larger, more reliable resource base and drilling ongoing, Aurum is steadily making Boundiali one of West Africa’s more closely watched emerging gold stories.
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