Ariana Resources plc: Extensive vein system identified at Arzu Central

24 January 2017
AIM: AAU

EXTENSIVE VEIN SYSTEM IDENTIFIED AT ARZU CENTRAL

Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the gold exploration and development company operating in Turkey, is pleased to announce results for its Phase Two drilling programme of 2016, completed in December at the Kiziltepe Project.   Kiziltepe is part of the Red Rabbit Joint Venture with Proccea Construction Co. and will be 50% owned by Ariana once the mine is operational in Q1 2017. 

Highlights:

• Vein mineralisation intercepted in every drill hole with robust infill drilling results from the south-western end of Arzu Central providing 7m @ 4.00 g/t Au + 27.51 g/t Ag, 12m @ 1.96 g/t Au + 34.45 g/t Ag and 11m @ 1.83 g/t + 45.07 g/t Ag.
  
• Newly identified vein system within Arzu Central provides results including 11m @ 0.95 g/t Au + 35.91 g/t Ag and 2m @ 1.64 g/t Au + 35.70 g/t Ag.
  
• Arsenopyrite-rich style of mineralisation encountered c.70m from a previous bonanza-grade hole (12.1m @ 13.1 g/t Au+ 188 g/t Ag) provides an intercept of 11m @ 2.24 g/t Au + 11.06 g/t Ag. 
  
• South-eastern extension of Arzu North provides results including 8m @ 1.14 g/t Au + 15.64 g/t Ag, 2m @ 1.01 g/t Au + 17.50 g/t Ag and 1m @ 1.86 g/t Au + 46.30 g/t Ag.
  
• Substantial scope to identify further mineralised veins in the Arzu Central area; system represents a structural splay which widens towards Arzu North and Derya. 

Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented: 

"We are very excited to have confirmed the continuity of mineralisation beneath the cap rocks at Arzu Central.  These initial results demonstrate for the first time that an extensive and still only partially tested vein system is developed over 650m of strike connecting Arzu South with Arzu North.  Significantly the system appears to be more structurally complex than first thought and it appears to represent a structural splay which widens from Arzu South towards Arzu North and Derya.

Future work will be directed towards the further expansion of the planned open pits at Arzu South, Arzu North and Derya in order to capture as much economic mineralisation as possible in this area.  Alternatively, the Company may consider the development of a potential underground operation at Arzu Central in the event that further targeted drilling is successful in identifying higher-grade zones that could be accessed by underground development."

Drilling Programme

In 2016, Ariana Resources successfully completed a two phase exploration and resource drilling programme with the objective to define the extent of potential mineralisation between the Arzu North, South and Derya vein systems at Kiziltepe.  At surface, the extensions of these mineralised vein systems are largely obscured by a unit of pumice ignimbrite cap rocks; a geological unit of different age and composition to the crystal dacite rocks hosting the majority of the veins at Kiziltepe.  In early 2012, Ariana's exploration team successfully completed two conceptual exploration holes to test for the possible existence of a mineralised vein extension beneath the pumice ignimbrite from the southeastern limits of Arzu North. These holes returned with excellent intercepts including; 34.1m @ 0.89 g/t Au + 8.47 g/t Ag and 7.6m @ 5.24 g/t Au + 129.72 g/t Ag (KTP-D19A-11).

In 2015, further conceptual drilling was completed to test for the possibility of mineralisation to exist within Arzu Central between the Arzu North, South and Derya vein systems. On this occasion, extensions to mineralisation were tested from the northwestern limits of Arzu South. Again exceptional mineralisation was intercepted including; 22m @ 2.93 g/t Au + 29.76 g/t Ag (KTP-RC07-15). Both the 2012 and 2015 drilling results generated sufficient additional confidence in a conceptual 650m long exploration target through the Arzu "Gap Zone", hereafter referred to as Arzu Central.  Once this level of confidence was secured, further drilling was warranted. 

In 2016, 2,342m of Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling was successfully completed at Arzu Central. The first phase of the two phased programme aimed to define the subsurface limits of the overlying pumice ignimbrites and to target an area that contained the highest probability of vein mineralisation. This work was crucial in order to generate refined targets for drill testing along strike from last known vein intercepts.  By November 2016, the exploration team had a robust understanding of the Arzu Central geology, in particular the geometry of the pumice ignimbrite unit.  As part of the Phase Two programme, drilling continued through Arzu Central, starting from the Arzu South side and progressing to Arzu North and Derya. The drilling programme consisted of typically 50m spaced drill fences, with a total of 15 drill holes, to cover approximately 400 meters of strike within the Arzu Central region. Mineralisation was intercepted in every hole with best intercepts including 11m @ 0.95 g/t Au + 35.91 g/t Ag and 2m @ 1.64 g/t Au + 35.70 g/t Ag.  Towards the Derya end of Arzu Central, where bonanza grades (KTP-D18-11: 12.1m @ 13.1 g/t Au + 188 g/t Ag) were intercepted in previous drilling, unusual disseminated arsenopyrite-rich stockwork zones were identified in drill hole KTP-RC44-15 providing 11m @ 2.24 g/t Au + 11.06 g/t Ag.  This area requires priority follow-up, given that the bonanza grade intercept occurs only c.70m away from the new intercept. 

Vein trends identified from mineralised intercepts at Arzu Central suggest that non-outcropping mineralisation trending from Arzu South is orientated at 295 degrees in strike, towards Derya Vein. In isolation this suggests that the strike connection from Arzu South to Arzu North may not be the dominant trend.  However, two test holes (KTP-RC45-16 and KTP-RC46-16), drilled southeast of the last know intercepts at Arzu North have both returned with significant intercepts including 8m @ 1.14 g/t Au + 15.64 g/t Ag, 2m @ 1.01 g/t Au + 17.5 g/t Ag and 1m @ 1.86 g/t Au + 46.3 g/t Ag.  This suggests that mineralisation between Arzu North and Arzu South probably does exist but is not trending at the 315 degree strike orientation as originally modelled.  Consequently, the Arzu Central area is significantly more complex than first considered. Further drilling is required to fully define what could be a significant subsurface extension of Arzu North and the continuation of mineralisation within a corridor connecting Arzu South to Derya. 

In addition to the drilling undertaken as part of the Phase Two assessment of Arzu Central, the Ariana exploration team also completed five infill resource drill holes on the north western end of Arzu South.  Significant intercepts from this drilling include 7m @ 4.00 g/t Au + 27.51 g/t Ag, 12m @ 1.96 g/t Au + 34.45 g/t Ag and 11m @ 1.83 g/t Au + 45.07 g/t Ag.

Table 1:  Significant RC drilling results from the 2016 programme at Arzu Central, arranged in order of the gram x metre intercepts (down-hole gold equivalent grade multiplied by intercept thickness).  The intercepts reported in this table are the down-hole lengths.  Intercept grades have been calculated using a 0.5 g/t Au minimum cut-off with up to 2m internal waste allowed.

Figure 1: Map of the Arzu Central area showing the Phase Two drilling and selected previous drilling (shown with *).  The map shows the outline of the feasibility designed pits and the potential expanded pits based on Whittle optimisation completed in 2016.  The vein system as identified in Phase Two drilling is shown in yellow, while previous resource panels are shown in red.

Link: http://hugin.info/138153/R/2072974/779138.pdf 

Sampling and Assaying Procedures

434 samples were selected based on geological logging of RC chips during drilling and sent for assay. All samples from the drilling programme undertaken by Ariana Resources plc, were prepared and assayed by 30g fire assay, and ICP-MS multi-element analysis, at the ALS Global laboratory in Izmir.  Routine re-assaying of all samples assaying greater than 10 g/t of gold and 100 g/t of silver has also been completed by ALS Global.  Standard, blank and duplicate samples are being used in the sample batches, which is in line with the Company's quality control procedures.  Laboratory sample preparation, assaying procedures and chain of custody are appropriately controlled.  The Company maintains an archive of reference RC chip samples, in addition to all sample pulps and splits.

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

Contacts:

Editor's Notes:

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 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.

Glossary of Technical Terms:

"Ag" Silver

"Au" Gold

"g/t" grams per tonne

"m" Metres

"oz" Ounces

Ends