1 July 2015
AIM: AAU
FURTHER INVESTMENT BY METAL TIGER
Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the Anglo-Turkish gold exploration and development company focused on Turkey is pleased to announce that through its strategic investment agreement with Metal Tiger plc (LON:MTR) ("Metal Tiger"), Metal Tiger yesterday exercised its final option to invest an additional £75,000 for shares with attaching warrants in Ariana.
Highlights:
- On 30 June 2015 Metal Tiger exercised its option to invest an additional £75,000 in Ariana Resources plc at 0.9p per share to acquire a further 8,333,333 shares;
- Metal Tiger is to receive 8,333,333 warrants to subscribe for new ordinary shares in Ariana Resources plc at 1.8p per share with a three year exercise period;
- This additional tranche brings the total Metal Tiger 2015 investment in Ariana Resources to £250,000, to date.
Application will be made to the London Stock Exchange for the 8,333,333 new ordinary shares, which will rank pari passu with all existing ordinary shares, to be admitted to trading on AIM ("Admission"). Admission is expected to take place on or around 7 July 2015.
Kerim Sener, Ariana Resource's Managing Director commented:
"We are delighted that Metal Tiger has exercised its option to acquire the final £75,000 tranche of Ariana shares, as relating to the original agreements between the companies and announced to market in February and April 2015.
"Ariana is now extremely well positioned with a fully funded construction phase due to commence shortly for the gold production plant at the Red Rabbit project and with significant project exploration opportunities across the Company's wide project base in Turkey.
"Furthermore following receipt of the scoping study for Salinbas we have a number of third parties who have expressed an interest in the project and with whom we are engaged in ongoing discussions.
"In overview this additional Metal Tiger investment comes at a time when the Company is working extremely hard to create an exciting future and deliver value to shareholders. We look forward to announcing further updates to shareholders as our work progresses."
Metal Tiger Investment in Ariana Resources - Summary
5 February 2015
Metal Tiger previously announced a Direct Equity Subscription into Ariana Resources plc of £75,000 at 0.9p per share amounting to a purchase of 8,333,333 new ordinary shares in Ariana.
As part of this investment Metal Tiger received 8,333,333 warrants to subscribe for new ordinary shares in Ariana Resources plc at 1.8 per share with an exercise period of 3 years from the subscription date. Should Ariana dispose of the Salinbas/Ardala project interest for in excess of $15million, the exercise price of any unexercised warrants from this warrant tranche will increase by 50% to 2.7p per share.
7 April 2015
Metal Tiger announced a further Direct Equity Subscription into Ariana Resources plc of £100,000 at 0.9p per share amounting to a purchase of 11,111,111 new ordinary shares in Ariana.
As part of this investment Metal Tiger received 11,111,111 warrants to subscribe for new ordinary shares in Ariana Resources plc fixed at 1.8p per share with an exercise period of 3 years from the subscription date.
30 June 2015
Metal Tiger exercised an option to invest a further £75,000 in Ariana Resources through a Direct Equity subscription at 0.9p per share amounting to a purchase of 8,333,333 new ordinary shares in Ariana.
As part of this investment Metal Tiger will receive 8,333,333 warrants to subscribe for new ordinary shares in Ariana Resources plc at 1.8p per share with an exercise period of 3 years from the subscription date. Should Ariana dispose of the Salinbas/Ardala project interest for in excess of $15million, the exercise price of any unexercised warrants from this warrant tranche will increase by 50% to 2.7p per share.
Overall Summary
In three tranches during 2015 Metal Tiger has therefore invested a total of £250,000 to acquire 27,777,777 shares in Ariana Resources at a price of 0.9p per share.
In addition Metal Tiger currently holds 27,777,777 warrants in Ariana Resources. 11,111,111 of which are exercisable at 1.8p each. The balance of 16,666,666 warrants are exercisable at an exercise price of 1.8p and In the event that Ariana confirms via an AIM announcement that they have sold their interest in the Salinbas/Ardala project for cash or share consideration in excess of $15million, the price of any un-exercised warrants of the 16,666,666 will increase by 50% to an exercise price of 2.7p per share.
Collaboration
As announced on 5 February 2015, Metal Tiger and Ariana have agreed to collaborate to identify and consider new resource opportunities in Turkey where both parties may be able to participate. Most notably both companies are keen to consider new opportunities that may arise in respect of fresh licence auctions taking place in Turkey and the companies are in regular communication in relation to this.
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 Winkles | |
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 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.
Ends