How did Aurum Resources come into existence?

After building Tietto Minerals’ Abujar Gold Mine and brought it into commercial production in Côte d’Ivoire, I started setting up a diamond drill fleet to offer commercial drilling services through our private company Plusor Global Pty Ltd (“Plusor”) for mineral project exploration in the country. Our first contract was with locally owned company Minex West Africa, which approached us with a drill-for-equity proposal. Following a technical review and site visit, we chose to take the risk and earn an interest in the project. By September 2024, we (Plusor) had secured 80% ownership of what was the first tenement of Plusor’s Boundiali project. The second tenement Plusor acquired was out of a dispute between two companies: In exchange for 3,500 meters of diamond drilling and paying US$430k respectively, each of the two parties sold their respective stakes—35% and 45% to Plusor, enabling us to consolidate an 80% ownership position of what was the second tenement of Plusor’s Boundiali project in November 2023. On December 20, 2023, Aurum was officially established through Plusor’s backdoor listing into Aurum on the ASX.

What is your expectation on Boundiali gold resources within the short term?

Aurum delivered Boundiali’s maiden JORC resources 1.6 million oz Au in December 2024. In August this year, Aurum updated Boundiali’s JORC resource to 2.4 million oz. We are preparing a second resource update early in 2026, with the goal of growing the current resource to over 3 million oz. As we advance toward the DFS, we will carry out additional infill drilling to upgrade the resource category. Our aim is to complete the PFS in the first quarter in 2026.

How has your experience at Tietto influenced your strategy, and what is different this time?

As Tietto, we were one of the first explorers in Côte d’Ivoire post their domestic crisis in 2011, and we started from scratch, applying for an exploration license ourselves in a region where there was no prior exploration history at all. In five years, we delivered a 3.8 million oz resource that we built into a 5 million t/y mining operation producing 200,000 oz/y Au. 

At Aurum, we had a head start with two initial tenements acquired. It took us more than four years to move from one DD rig to eight at Tietto, but at Aurum, we grew that same fleet within 12 months. Our in-house drilling fleet provides a unique capacity to develop the resource quickly and at lower costs. Eight of our rigs are currently drilling at Boundiali, and two are at Napié, our second project, located about 120 km north-east of Boundiali. For this calendar year, we are confident we can accomplish 130,000 m of drilling between Boundiali and Napié.

Could you give us a sense of the upside potential at the Boundiali license?

The current resource was defined from drilling just three of the seven tenements across our 1,470 km² landholding. Of these three tenements, we only touched a small portion of the multiple prospective areas. The vast majority of Boundiali’s potential remains untapped. For the next two to three years, we should be able to demonstrate the great potential of this project package.

What motivated the acquisition of Mako Resources and its Napié project?

Napié has 870,000 oz of maiden JORC resource from just a 4 km strike length of the overall 33 km mineralization corridor. With our unique drilling capability, we will continue drilling Napié to advance the resource. The merger between Aurum and Mako has been value-creative for the shareholders of both companies.

Why did you decide to remain in Côte d’Ivoire?

Covering 34% of the Birimian Greenstone Belt and still largely underexplored, Côte d'Ivoire is one of the best gold investment destinations in West Africa from a purely technical/geological perspective. Second, our experience at Tietto showed us what can be achieved - and how quickly - giving us confidence to replicate that success at Aurum.

Can you update us on Aurum’s recent capital raises and the role of key shareholders like Zhaojin Mining and Montage in supporting your growth strategy?

Last year, we raised a total of A$37 million across three placements. The support we’ve received demonstrates the strong confidence in our ability to grow the project rapidly. Zhaojin Mining Industry, which acquired Tietto Minerals, is one of our largest shareholders. Recognizing our track record with Tietto, Zhaojin invested just under 5% during our first capital raise early last year. Following the release of our maiden JORC resource in December, our neighbor Montage Gold Corp (operator of the Koné project directly south of our ground) began paying closer attention. In April this year, I was invited to visit Montage’s Koné site. We discussed the potential for a joint effort to accelerate growth and unlock synergies between the two projects. While Montage has already defined a very large resource, our grades are higher, which could create complementary opportunities.

Do you have a final message?

Aurum is a junior gold explorer and developer with a unique mid-sized drilling company’s capacity, but we drill exclusively for ourselves. This means we can grow the resource faster than our peers, while spending a lot less of our shareholders’ money.

Second, we know exactly what we are doing and where we are heading. What we are executing now is very much a continuation of what we successfully achieved in the past.