Ariana Resources plc : New Vein Extensions identified at Kiziltepe

30 January 2017
AIM: AAU

NEW VEIN EXTENSIONS IDENTIFIED AT KIZILTEPE

Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the gold exploration and development company operating in Turkey, is pleased to announce further results from its Phase Two drilling programme of 2016, completed during early 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:

• 125m vein extension tested at Banu with several near surface results including 3m @ 3.36 g/t Au + 95.4 g/t Ag, 5m @ 1.88 g/t Au + 41.8 g/t Ag and 4m @ 1.16 g/t Au + 24.9 g/t Ag.
   
• Best individual intercept at Banu is 1m @ 7.95g/t Au + 170g/t Ag, which along with a previous intercept at Fidan of 4.75m @ 4.26 g/t Au + 65.2 g/t Ag demonstrates the potential for high grades within the south-eastern end of the Kiziltepe vein system.
   
• New silver-rich vein extension discovered at Arzu Far South, with intercepts including 8m @ 0.82 g/t Au + 60.4 g/t Ag, 2m @ 1.35 g/t Au + 64.6g/t Ag and 3m @ 0.72 g/t Au + 41.2 g/t Ag.
   
• Further exploration required on several other zones of mineralisation within the Banu, Fidan and Arzu Far South areas.

Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented: 

"Adding a further 125m to the mineralised vein strike at Banu potentially represents a meaningful addition to our resource at this locality.  The grades encountered over at least 75m of this additional vein strike demonstrate the potential for extraction from an extended open-pit.  Meanwhile, at Arzu Far South we have discovered a vein array which is highly anomalous in gold and particularly silver, which appears to represent the top of the system.  Further drilling, targeting greater depths, may be warranted in this area.

In addition, previous high-grade drilling results from the Fidan Vein require further investigation in the context of the Arzu Far South discovery.  Notably a single shallow intercept of 4.75m @ 4.26 g/t Au and 65.2 g/t Ag from 5.7m depth, which occurs between Fidan and Arzu Far South must be followed-up as a priority.  Also a 250m long high-grade vein system sampled and mapped at Banu West still requires drill testing."

Drilling Programme

As part of the 2016 Phase Two drilling programme at Kiziltepe, 904 meters of exploration drilling was undertaken within the Arzu Far South area.  A further 260 meters was used to extend the test the southern extension of the Banu vein for an additional 125 meters along strike.  All drilling was conducted by Spektra Jeotek San. ve Tic. A.S. and supervised by the Ariana exploration team, and team members from Ariana's Turkish subsidiary, Galata Madencilik San. ve Tic. Ltd. ("Galata").

The drilling undertaken on the southern end of Arzu South followed the completion of high resolution 1:500 scale geological mapping in and around the Kiziltepe mine site.  After top soil removal was completed as part of the construction of the Arzu South pit entry ramp, several clay alteration corridors containing sporadic vein material were identified on the flanks of Arzu South.  This led to the mapping of two new alteration trends within the Arzu Far South area. Both trends were targeted in drilling for possible mineralised extensions of the Arzu South vein system.

Drilling of these structures provided best intercepts including 8m @ 0.82g/t Au + 60.4 g/t Ag, 2m @ 1.35 g/t Au + 64.55 g/t Ag and 3m @ 0.72g/t g/t Au + 41.17 g/t Ag.  The larger of the two structures was tested to approximately 100 vertical meters below surface where gold results were relatively low but silver grades in several places exceeded 100 g/t Ag over one meter.

550 meters west of the Arzu Far South mineralisation, five new RC drill holes totalling 260 meters was drilled into the southernmost extents of the Banu vein.  All five holes intercepted quartz vein mineralisation, testing 125 meters of new vein strike to depths of 55 meters and 25 meters below the surface.  Best intercepts include 3m @ 3.36 g/t Au + 95.40 g/t Ag, 5m @ 1.88 g/t Au + 41.80 g/t Ag (including 1m @ 7.95 g/t Au + 170 g/t Ag) and 4m @ 1.16 g/t Au + 24.95 g/t Ag.

Following these results, revisions to the resource estimate for the Banu vein will be undertaken.  Banu currently contains a JORC 2004 Measured and Indicated Resource of 158,000t @ 2.3 g/t Au + 53 g/t Ag for 11,700 oz gold + 272,000 oz silver.  Historic drill intercepts at Banu include 21m @ 1.59 g/t Au + 36.71 g/t Ag, 11m @ 2.07 g/t Au + 43.70 g/t Ag and 12m @ 1.20g/t Au + 32.58 g/t Ag. 

Surrounding the Banu and Arzu Far South veins are several mineralised zones that largely remain untested by drilling.  At Banu West, a 250m vein measuring 0.7-2m in width returned significant surface rock-chip results including 3.3 g/t Au + 4.8 g/t Ag, 2.1 g/t Au + 20.7 g/t Ag and 1.6 g/t Au + 2.6 g/t Ag.

Between the Banu and Arzu Far South veins, a series of stockwork-dominant vein zones at Fidan have been mapped and drill tested to a maximum depth of 120m below the surface.   Previous drilling identified several encouraging intercepts from the Fidan area, including 4.75m @ 4.26 g/t Au and 65.2 g/t Ag (from 5.7m), 4m @ 2.59 g/t Au + 38.25 g/t Ag, 4m @ 1.23 g/t Au + 2.9 g/t Ag and 2m @ 2.01 g/t Au + 7.40 g/t Ag.

Detailed mapping, sampling and exploration drilling at the Arzu Far South, Banu and Fidan veins and several surrounding vein systems is demonstrating the potential for new resource targets at Kiziltepe. Significant additional work will be required to continue the exploration and development of these vein systems and to confirm their resource potential.  

Table 1:  Significant RC drilling results from the 2016 programme at Arzu Far South and Banu, 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: See below for map of the SE end of the Kiziltepe vein system, showing the limits of the pit outlines at Arzu South and Banu.  The positions of all new and historic drill collars are shown, with drill traces and intercept locations identified for several recent holes.  Drill holes identified by a * have been reported previously.

Sampling and Assaying Procedures

359 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.

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

"Indicated resource" a part of a mineral resource for which tonnage, densities, shape, physical characteristics, grade and mineral content can be estimated with a reasonable level of confidence. It is based on exploration, sampling and testing information gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes. The locations are too widely or inappropriately spaced to confirm geological and/or grade continuity but are spaced closely enough for continuity to be assumed;

"JORC" the Joint Ore Reserves Committee;

"JORC 2004" is the previous edition of the JORC Code, which was published in 2004. It has been superseded by JORC 2012;

"m" Metres

"Measured resource" a part of a Mineral Resource for which tonnage, densities, shape, physical characteristics, grade and mineral content can be estimated with a high level of confidence. It is based on detailed and reliable exploration, sampling and testing information gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drillholes. The locations are spaced closely enough to confirm geological and grade continuity.

"oz" Ounces

"t" Tonnes

Ends