Aurum to Advance Metallurgical Studies for Boundiali Gold Project

Aurum Resources Limited (ASX:AUE) is pleased to announce the appointment of MACA Interquip Mintrex (MIM) and ALS (Perth) to undertake metallurgical study activities for its Boundiali Gold Project in Côte d’Ivoire from Scoping Study level towards Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) level.

This appointment marks the commencement of scoping study of the Boundiali Gold Project’s potential future development.

MIM’s appointment involves both an initial metallurgical testwork scope and possible ongoing works to PFS and definitive feasibility study (DFS) levels.

At the current Scoping level, MIM will:

• Design a testwork program suitable for a scoping study, mainly consisting of:
  • Comminution (BWi, RWi, CWi, Ai, SMC) – oxide samples, transition samples and fresh samples.
  • Gravity – oxide, transition and fresh samples followed by various variability samples.
  • Grind establishment
  • Leach – samples of oxide, transitional and fresh all at the optimum grind size.
• Perform regular reviews and gap analysis on the testwork program to update program if needed;
• Manage and monitoring the progress of the testwork at ALS in Perth;
• Evaluate the final scoping testwork results;
• Provide Scoping Level Process Design Criteria inputs into scoping study work;
• Design testwork program based on scoping study results to support further engineering work up to DFS level;
• Provide advice on tests to be carried out for feasibility study.

ALS Perth will undertake Comminution Tests and Cyanide Leach Testwork.

Managing Director Dr Caigen Wang said: “We are at the beginning of a very exciting phase of preliminary studies for our Boundiali Gold Project’s development. Metallurgical studies are scheduled in line with our overall gold resources definition, project scoping study and PFS. The outcome of this preliminary met study will form a critical part of the Boundiali Gold Project’s scoping study and PFS.

Aurum’s executive team enjoyed past collaboration with Mintrex and ALS Perth on metallurgical studies on Tietto Minerals’ Abujar Gold Project in Côte d’Ivoire from scoping to PFS and DFS and we look forward to this new collaboration on the very exciting Boundiali Gold Project also in Côte d’Ivoire.”

Aurum has extensive drilling programs underway at Boundiali, aimed at delivering an initial JORC Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) in late CY2024. Aurum expects to complete 45,000m of diamond drilling in CY2024, currently with five AUE-owned and operated diamond drill rigs operating 24 hours for 6 days a week.

Preliminary gold recovery tests (ASX 22/7/2024) through bottle roll tests on 50 samples from Boundiali target BDT1 confirmed gold mineralisation is free milling, with cyanide leach recoveries consistently exceeding 93% for samples grading 0.25 g/t gold or higher. Results from the test work are encouraging, with calculated recoveries for oxidised samples ranging from 91% to 99%, averaging 97.5%. Samples above 0.25 g/t Au reported an average recovery of 93%. Fresh samples of all lithologies reported an average gold recovery of 90.3% (sandstone is the most common lithology) (Table 1).

Table 1: Average cyanide gold recovery at BDT1 by weathering and lithology

Aurum is well funded with ~$23M cash available after shareholders approved Aurum’s Tranche 2 of a $17M Share Placement announced in June and $3M SPP. Aurum received approval at the company’s General Meeting held on 6 August 2024.

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