Aurum Resources (ASX:AUE) has extended gold mineralisation at the BST1 deposit in an ongoing 150,000m diamond drilling campaign at the Boundiali Gold Project in Côte d’Ivoire.
The company has received results from 22 diamond drill holes across 6,172.8m through infill, step-out, and extensional drilling methods at the deposit.
Key intercepts include 2.63m @ 76.74 grams per tonne gold (Au) from 195.20m, including 1.3m @ 155g/t Au; 24m @ 6.31g/t Au from 108m, including 7m @ 19.25g/t Au; and 1.43m @ 53.54g/t Au from 74m.
Aurum says the results returned so far confirm that mineralisation extends outside of the existing resource estimate at BST1, with a gold system that remains open.
The 150,000m drilling campaign at Boundiali forms a part of Aurum’s greater 180,000 drilling program for 2026, which includes another 30,000m of drilling to be conducted at Napié in Q4.
Aurum intends to update Boundiali’s mineral resource estimate (MRE) early in the next quarter, with a drilling cut-off at the end of this month (September 2026).
The company notes that the Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) is expected to be returned in late 2026.
Boundiali’s current MRE holds 3.22 million ounces of gold, which adjoins Napié’s 1.16-million-ounce (Moz) resource to create a company-wide resource of 4.4Moz.
Managing Director Caigen Wang says the assays returned from these 22 drillholes at BST1 have expanded the 150,000m Boundiali drilling program for 2026.
“We are encouraged that our drilling at BST1 is on track to materially increase the indicated resource (currently 6.9Mt @ 0.9g/t Au for 190koz) in Boundiali’s next MRE update, expected early in the December quarter,” Wang says.
“The updated MRE will then feed into a Boundiali DFS due late this year.
“Our focus now is grant of the mining licences and completion of the DFS, with the goal of finalising funding and starting construction in early 2027, targeting first gold in the first half of 2028.
“Boundiali continues to grow in both scale and confidence, and today’s results reinforce that trajectory.”
Aurum announced a $52.5 million placement earlier this week, which will feed into the company’s workstreams at Boundiali. It confirms that it is now well funded, expecting a cash balance of over $95 million following the capital raising.
Aurum Resources is an Australian developer focused on advancing gold projects in Côte d’Ivoire.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Main Image: Aurum Resources
