Aurum Resources (ASX:AUE) has stepped up its interest in the Ivory Coast-based Boundiali Gold Project (BGP), to 80%. However, shares have dipped nearly -5% early in the second hour of Friday trades as every sector sinks into the red.

Aurum moved into a JV alongside Turaco Gold after being sold the stake by Predictive Discovery earlier this year. After 24,000m of drilling – diamond-tipped – the company has now earned an 80% stake in the play.

Drilling was undertaken on the ‘Plusor-Minex JV’ tenement, one of four key areas of exploration at the BGP.

The 80% stake extends to that tenement, but not necessarily the overall project.

Logged over the better part of a year, the company has now reported the following drill hits pulled from the Boundiali project:

• 17.3m @ 5/9g/t gold from 273m depth, including
  • 6.0m @ 16g/t gold
• 29m @ 1.5g/t gold from 178m depth
• 17m @ 1.3g/t gold from 183m depth
• 11.4m @ 6.67g/t gold from 162m depth
• 45m @ 0.9g/t gold from 78m depth
• 16m @ 1.2g/t gold from 117m depth

Now, the company is targeting a JORC-compliant mineral resource estimate (MRE) before the commencement of 2025. Six self-owned diamond rigs are currently active on-site with diamond drilling ongoing.

With $19 million cash in bank, Aurum says it has enough to keep up an “aggressive” exploration campaign.

“While the scouting and resource definition drilling results released over this year are very encouraging, we are more excited about pending initial JORC resources expected from the Boundiali Gold Project in late 2024,” Aurum MD Dr. Caigen Wang said.

“Our diamond drilling with six rigs is ongoing for the rest of 2024, and we plan to drill 100,000m at the Boundiali Gold Project in 2025 to further unlock the potential of this exciting gold discovery.”

AUE last traded at 38.5cps after dropping nearly 5%.

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