Ariana Resources Identifies New Drill Targets in Turkey

Ariana Resources plc (LSE:AAU) is updating investors its recent exploration programme across the Red Rabbit Joint Venture project area in Western Turkey.

Highlights of the program include:

•  Ten new drill-ready targets defined on well-mineralised veins (rock-chip values typically exceeding 5 g/t Au) at the Kiziltepe Sector of the Red Rabbit Gold Project.

•  Targeting and scouting has identified a further 300 exploration targets within 75km of the planned Kiziltepe mine-site.

•  41 targets have been followed-up this summer; work continuing.

•  Initial results are highly encouraging, demonstrating potential for mineralised intrusions associated with a large-scale collapsed volcanic caldera, which is contained by the Company licences.

• New high-grade gold-silver and base-metal targets identified in proximity to Kiziltepe Sector licences.

Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director said in a statement:

The recent efforts of the Ariana field team to identify new targets in the vicinity of the planned Kiziltepe mine-site have been very successful and highly encouraging, with 10 new drill-ready targets identified within the Kiziltepe licences alone.  This follows from our desire to understand fully the potential of the wider area to yield additional resources, which could in time be fed to the future plant at Kiziltepe.  Work to date has highlighted that only 6% of the total vein system mapped in the region corresponds to our open-pit reserve of 1.1Mt @ 3.1 g/t gold and 39.8 g/t silver.

The team remain busy with target follow-up and will shortly begin testing an exciting new geological model for the region.  This model has evolved from the recent mapping programme and builds upon the input of a specialist geological consultant, who identified a ‘magmatic phase’ to the mineralisation at Kiziltepe and related prospects.  Follow-up work by the team suggests that the entire vein system is associated with a large-scale collapsed volcanic caldera containing resurgent rhyolitic domes, which are associated with mineralisation.  Such calderas are, in places, associated with extensive mineralised systems.

The Company is now planning to prioritise its exploration to focus on the definition of potentially mineable high-grade resources in the vicinity of the planned Kiziltepe plant.  Our aim is to extend the life of mine to Stage 2, increasing our mineable resources beyond eight years.

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