Ariana Resources plc : Construction Update - Kiziltepe

4 October 2016
AIM: AAU

CONSTRUCTION UPDATE - KIZILTEPE

Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the gold exploration and development company operating in Turkey, is pleased to provide an update on construction of the Kiziltepe Mine within the Red Rabbit Gold-Silver Project in Western Turkey ("Red Rabbit").  Kiziltepe is being advanced towards production through a 50:50 Joint Venture ("JV") with Proccea Construction Co. ("Proccea").  The project is expecting first production in Q4 2016.

Highlights:

• Process (CIL/CIC and ADR*) piping and electrical work to be completed by late October/early November.
   
• Back-up tailings pumps have arrived on site and are awaiting installation ahead of commissioning; larger diaphragm pump to be installed early 2017.
   
• Commissioning process now underway, commencing with process plant; wet testing of thickeners and CIL/CIC tanks now complete.
   
• Automation circuits and programmes to be operational during late stage commissioning in Q4 2016.
   
• Open-pit development by the mining contractors fully underway, with mining and stockpiling of low-grade ore in progress ahead of commissioning and start-up (Figure 1).
   
• 95% of the tailings dam landscaping is complete, with the dam wall and concrete drainage channel under construction.
   
• Mine-site laboratory set up nearing completion with major components now installed or awaiting installation and testing.
   
• Final commissioning and first gold pour expected in late Q4 2016; tailings dam completion and weather permitting. 

Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented: 

"Following our most recent visit to Kiziltepe, completed last week, we are very pleased to report that mining of the Arzu South vein has commenced and stockpiling of this material is underway.  The JV is also developing a staged pit design that will optimise the cashflow and overall resource recovery from the Arzu South pit.  Work on the process plant area is now nearing completion and the only significant remaining hurdle before we can commence gold-silver production is the completion of the tailings dam, which is expected during Q4 2016."

* CIL - Carbon-in-Leach; CIC - Carbon-in-Column; ADR - Adsorption-Desorption-Recovery

Figure 1 is attached and shows: View of the Kiziltepe mine-site showing the current status of construction progress, taken from the tailings dam road.  The crushers, screens, ball-mill and CIL/CIC and ADR process plant buildings are all complete with components fully installed (buildings with blue shrouding).  Piping and electrical work is ongoing, and commissioning is underway.  Open-pit development is underway to the left of the image along the Arzu South vein and ROM stockpiles are seen just to the right of the blue buildings.  The mine site laboratory is the white building to the left of the photograph.  Geomembrane for the tailings dam is stored beneath the yellow and blue tarpaulin in the foreground.

http://hugin.info/138153/R/2046402/764742.pdf 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.

Contacts:

Editors' Note:

About Ariana Resources

Ariana is an exploration and development company focused on epithermal gold-silver and porphyry copper-gold deposits in Turkey.  The Company is developing a portfolio of prospective licences selected on the basis of its in-house geological and remote-sensing database, on its own in western Turkey and in Joint Venture with Eldorado Gold Corporation in north-eastern Turkey.  Eldorado owns 51% of this joint venture and are fully funding all exploration work on the JV properties, while Ariana owns 49%.  The total resource inventory within this JV is 1.09 million ounces of gold.

The Company's flagship assets are its Kiziltepe and Tavsan gold projects which form the Red Rabbit Gold Project.  Both contain a series of prospects, within two prolific mineralised districts in the Western Anatolian Volcanic and Extensional (WAVE) Province in western Turkey.  This Province hosts the largest operating gold mines in Turkey and remains highly prospective for new porphyry and epithermal deposits.  These core projects, which are separated by a distance of 75km, are being assessed as to their economic merits and now form part of a Joint Venture with Proccea Construction Co.  The Kiziltepe Sector of the Red Rabbit Project is fully-permitted and is currently in construction.  The total resource inventory at the Red Rabbit Project and wider project area stands at c. 525,000 ounces of gold equivalent.  

Beaufort Securities Limited and Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited are joint brokers to the Company and Beaumont Cornish Limited is the Company's Nominated Adviser. 

For further information on Ariana you are invited to visit the Company's website at www.arianaresources.com.

Ends