5 June 2015
AIM: AAU
NEW GOLD TARGETS AT KARAKAVAK
Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the Anglo-Turkish gold exploration and development company focused on Turkey, is pleased to announce highly encouraging results from a soil geochemical programme conducted on the Karakavak prospect at the Kiziltepe Sector of its advanced near-term production Red Rabbit Gold Project in western Turkey ("Red Rabbit") where fully-financed mine construction will commence shortly.
Highlights:
- Five new discoveries included among 12 geochemically anomalous zones for gold (>20ppb Au) encountered across the prospect area, doubling the number of drill targets.
- Several zones are extensive and coherent along strike and are broadly coincident with anomalous silver in soil results (>150ppb Ag); field follow-up has confirmed the existence of previously unmapped veins.
- Existing high-grade rock-chip results from some target areas include: 20.80g/t Au and 33.50g/t Ag, 8.89g/t Au, 3.99g/t Au and 2.60g/t Ag, and 3.54g/t Au and 9.88g/t Ag.
- Expanded soil X-ray Fluorescence ("XRF") grid identifies new corridor of potential mineralisation 2km long, extending westwards from historical gold drill intercepts.
- Results underpin the broader resource potential of the wider Red Rabbit Gold Project, which has a current global JORC resource of 475,000 oz of gold equivalent.
Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented:
"Following successful geochemical work undertaken in 2014, we expanded our soil geochemical programme to identify new target areas across the Karakavak prospect. We have now more than doubled the number of drill targets and identified multiple new veins, which bodes well for future exploration of the Kiziltepe Sector.
"With 12 targets identified in this one prospect area, five of them being entirely new, we look forward to initiating a drilling programme once the Kiziltepe Mine at Red Rabbit enters construction. Based on the data collected and interpreted so far, we fully expect additional resources to be defined within a short trucking distance to the planned processing plant. This has the potential to enhance the life of mine and indeed economics of our flagship gold project.
"Our exploration over the past 18 months is clearly bearing fruit and has gained huge significance now that we have received the forestry approvals for Kiziltepe. We are highly encouraged by the targets that we have generated and are keen to press on with drill-testing."
Soil geochemical programme
Utilising the soil samples collected previously for XRF analysis, an area covering the Karakavak and Karakavak South prospects was analysed by conventional geochemical methods on a 50m by 200m sampling grid. Gold and other trace elements were analysed following an aqua regia extraction and ICP-MS or ICP-AES finish. A total of 399 samples were sent to ALS Global for analysis. An area of 4.2km2 was covered and the results for gold and silver are shown in Figure 1.
Twelve significant gold in soil geochemical anomalies over 20ppb Au were identified, five of which represent new discoveries and are currently untested. Peak gold in soil results of 334ppb, 263ppb, 196ppb, 152ppb and 117ppb were encountered. These zones of gold anomalism are also largely coincident with anomalous silver in soil results (>150ppb). There also appears to be a silver-rich and gold-poor style of mineralisation represented in the data, which will need to be followed up with further fieldwork.
Some of the anomalous areas were previously rock-chip sampled and these data confirm that much of the mineralisation is associated with low-sulphidation gold-silver bearing veins. Peak rock-chip grades across the Karakavak area include: 20.80g/t Au and 33.50g/t Ag, 8.89g/t Au, 3.99g/t Au and 2.60g/t Ag, 3.54g/t Au and 9.88g/t Ag, 2.77g/t Au and 1.98g/t Ag, and 2.30g/t Au and 8.09g/t Ag. However, the most highly anomalous area encountered in the soil data appears associated with the boundary zone between ophiolite and later volcanic rocks. In addition, a further highly anomalous area to the south corresponds to minor quartz veins and extensive alteration, which has not previously been sampled. These two areas will be prioritised for further fieldwork.
In addition to the work outlined above, 1,242 new soil samples were collected for X-Ray Fluorescence ("XRF") analysis in the Karakavak North area (Figure 1). This additional sampling was undertaken in order to expand the existing soil geochemical grid to cover an area in which extensive quartz vein float had been encountered during the 2014 ground magnetics programme. The total area covered by this new sampling is 7km2 and extensive anomalism in various pathfinder elements was encountered throughout the geochemical grid (Figure 1). In particular, a major E-W trending structure, which shows evidence of veins and extensive silicification has been identified, which carries significant gold mineralisation at its eastern end. Historic drilling results from this area provided the following intercepts:
KR1-02: 53m @0.4 g/t Au
KR2-02: 143m @ 0.2 g/t Au
Although wide and low grade, these intercepts demonstrate that substantial flux of gold-bearing fluids occurred in this area. Here and elsewhere across the prospect area, higher-grade mineralisation is developed in places on several of the major structures. In addition, ground magnetic geophysics shows that some vein systems are developed within corridors of lower magnetic response, possibly corresponding to zones of alteration. Such corridors, containing veins, silicification and alteration will require systematic drill-testing in the future. Karakavak is one of several prospects in the Kiziltepe Sector that requires drill-testing and is within trucking distance to the planned Kiziltepe plant (Figure 2).
Figure 1: Gold (>20ppb) and silver (>150ppb) anomalies shown superimposed on satellite imagery in the Karakavak area. New soil XRF data for arsenic is shown in the northern part of the prospect area.
Figure 2: Map showing the position of important gold prospects in the Sindirgi Gold corridor and potential trucking routes from each prospect to the planned Kiziltepe processing facility. Karakavak is 27km by graded and asphalt road to Kiziltepe.
Contacts:
| Ariana Resources plc | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7407 3616 |
| Michael de Villiers, Chairman | |
| Kerim Sener, Managing Director | |
| Beaumont Cornish Limited | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7628 3396 |
| Roland Cornish / Felicity Geidt | |
| Beaufort Securities Limited | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7382 8300 |
| Saif Janjua | |
| Loeb Aron & Company Ltd. | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7628 1128 |
| John Beresford-Peirse / Dr. Frank Lucas | |
| St Brides Partners Ltd | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7236 1177 |
| Lottie Brocklehurst / Felicity Edwards | |
Editors' note:
Dr Kerim Sener, BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD, is the Managing Director of Ariana Resources plc. A graduate of the University of Southampton in Geology, he also holds a Master's degree from the Royal School of Mines (Imperial College, London) in Mineral Exploration and a doctorate from the University of Western Australia. He is a Fellow of The Geological Society of London and has worked in geological research and mineral consultancy in Africa, Australia and Europe. He has read and approved the technical disclosure in this regulatory announcement.
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 presently being assessed as to their economic merits and now form part of a Joint Venture with Proccea Construction Co. The total resource inventory at the Red Rabbit Project stands at 475,000 ounces of gold equivalent.
Beaufort Securities Limited and Loeb Aron & Company Ltd. 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.
Glossary of Technical Terms:
"Ag" the chemical symbol for silver;
"Au" the chemical symbol for gold;
"g/t" grams per tonne;
"ICP-AES" Inductively coupled plasma - atomic emission spectroscopy;
"ICP-MS" Inductively coupled plasma - mass spectrometry;
"JORC" the Joint Ore Reserves Committee;
"m" Metres;
"oz" Ounces;
"ppb" Parts per billion;
"XRF" X-ray fluorescence.
Ends
