Ariana Resources plc: Second operational update - Kiziltepe

31 January 2017
AIM: AAU

SECOND OPERATIONAL UPDATE - KIZILTEPE

Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the gold exploration and development company operating in Turkey, provides its second operational update on 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"). 

Highlights:

• Stage 1 Tailings Storage Facility ("TSF") completion remains delayed by below average temperatures and wet weather (Figure 1) though conditions are improving.
   
• Process CIL/CIC and ADR* plant operational under manual mode; nearing full automation.
   
• Commissioning of ball mill and thickeners is complete, with first ore due to be fed to the CIL system shortly.
   
• Carbon regeneration kiln is operational and the detox system and tailings pumps are ready for testing once the TSF is commissioned.
   
• Recent drilling to be incorporated in to a new resource and reserve estimate and an improved mining plan and schedule is in the process of being examined.

Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented: 

"While much of the Kiziltepe mine site is effectively operational, the below average temperature conditions (to -7 degrees C overnight) and rainfall experienced through much of January has inhibited the completion of the tailings dam.  However, we are pleased to note that the weather forecasts for the next 10 days are looking more favourable.  At this stage, the Joint Venture team is expecting to be in a position to complete the remaining work at the tailings dam within this better weather window.  Laying of the final geomembrane for the Stage 1 TSF is the last critical path element of the build before the mine becomes formally operational; commissioning tests of various process plant components and sub-systems have gone smoothly to date.

In the meantime, the Company is continuing to demonstrate the potential for an enhanced operation at Kiziltepe, through the positive results of its recent drilling programmes.  These results are sufficiently encouraging to warrant integration in to a longer-term developmental plan for the project involving larger and/or additional open pits.  The Company remains focused on increasing its production profile once Kiziltepe enters production, through several practical development strategies across its projects.  We will be updating the market on these activities on a regular basis."

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

Figure 1: shows view of the Kiziltepe process plant showing the completed CIL/CIC and ADR plant, taken from the site of the mine office car park.  The latest snowfall occurred at the end of last week, though was substantially less than the snowfall earlier in the month.

Link: http://hugin.info/138153/R/2074721/780022.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 originally selected on the basis of its in-house geological and remote-sensing database. 

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, form part of a 50:50 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.  At Kiziltepe a Net Smelter Return ("NSR") royalty of up to 2.5% on future production is payable to Franco-Nevada Corporation.  At Tavsan an NSR royalty of up to 2% on future production is payable to Sandstorm Gold.

In north-eastern Turkey, Ariana owns 100% of the Salinbas Gold Project, comprising the Salinbas gold-silver deposit and the Ardala copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry among other prospects.  The total resource inventory of the Salinbas project area is c. 1 million ounces of gold equivalent.  A NSR royalty of up to 2% on future production is payable to Eldorado Gold Corporation.

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