After a strong run of drilling and corporate success in Côte d’Ivoire, gold explorer Aurum Resources has elected to promote Mark Strizek to the role of executive director.
Mr Strizek was previously a non-executive director with the company and he will now help drive Aurum’s expanding exploration work at the Boundiali gold project, where four drilling rigs will soon be operating in the field.
Mr Strizek joined the Aurum board with more than 27 years’ experience in the resource industry, having worked as a geologist on various gold, base and technology metal projects.
He was previously an executive director at Tietto Minerals, which progressed from IPO to gold production at the Abujar gold project in West Africa.
Exceptional drill results
His promotion comes at a time when Aurum is stepping up its exploration work on the back of some exceptional drill results at Boundiali.
At the end of May, Aurum hit 163 grams per tonne of gold within a 12-metre intersection grading at 14.56g/t gold at the Boundiali BD Target 1, a 1.3km by 1km wide gold prospect within a 13km by 3km mineralised corridor.
The company has three diamond rigs on site and will increase to four, drilling around 6,000m per month with more than 30km drilling in total planned for this year at the site.
This extensive drill work will help Aurum achieve its target of publishing an initial mineral resource estimate for Boundiali in late CY2024.
Large system
The company is chasing a potentially large mineralised system along strike and at depth as well as areas where its exploration team has identified artisanal workings.
The majority of the corridor in which Aurum’s BD Target 1 and Target 2 prospects sit is yet to be drill-tested.
Gold mineralisation remains open along strike and at depth on all prospects, with drilling ongoing and further work planned.
A program of trenching is also underway to define additional high-priority targets for testing that sit within the corridor but outside of the three defined gold prospects.
Aurum has a strong cash balance of around $5 million to support its aggressive drill program.
