AGM Statement

29 June 2009 AIM / PLUS Markets: AAU AGM STATEMENT Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the gold exploration and development company focused on Turkey, confirms that all of the resolutions put to shareholders at the Company's Annual General Meeting held today were duly passed. The Chairman, Michael Spriggs made the following comments: "2008 was a year of significant progress for the Company and we have maintained the pace of this progress, despite the trying market conditions which unfolded late last year. Importantly, we have taken the step of moving from a pure exploration company to an explorer and developer of gold resources in Turkey. "We currently hold a gold equivalent JORC resource of over 400,000 ozs and are focusing our development efforts on the Sindirgi and Tavsan projects in western Turkey. At the Sindirgi Project we commenced trial mining and processing at Kiziltepe. Also, the recent sampling at Kepez has provided further encouragement and we are now planning to drill this prospect. The first production of gold from the Kiziltepe trial mine was announced to shareholders this morning. I would like to take the lead in congratulating the team on achieving this historic milestone. We also wish to thank our trial mining/processing partners, Eti Gümüs A.S., for their efforts and we look forward to developing our working relationship further. Discussions are currently underway for an extension to the initial trial at Kiziltepe. Moreover, an interest has been expressed by both parties in working together to formalise a partnership on both the Sindirgi and Tavsan projects. "The invaluable experience gained from trial mining has helped your Company to re-evaluate its strategic options for the development of the Sindirgi and Tavsan projects. We are currently considering the parallel development of both projects, whereby high-grade ore is mined from Kiziltepe and trucked approximately 125km to a heap-leach at Tavsan. In this sense, the two deposits are considered as a single integrated project, with a current Measured and Indicated gold equivalent resource of 230,000 oz at a blended grade of 3.8 g/t Au. Ariana intends to pursue the advancement of this option via a feasibility study based on a conceptual production rate of 30,000 oz per year over 7 years. The Company has provisionally named this project 'Kizil Tavsan' (Red Rabbit) and will be referred to as such in future announcements. "The Company has also taken the strategic decision to re-initiate innovative grassroots exploration in Turkey, with the primary aim of making a truly new gold deposit discovery and the secondary aim of identifying satellite resources for the Red Rabbit project to secure a project life in excess of 10 years. Ariana's management team believes that there remains serious opportunity to identify undiscovered deposits in the region, and your Company is positioning itself accordingly. Meanwhile, our Joint Venture with European Goldfields in northeastern Turkey continues to make new discoveries of its own. The recently identified high-grade Salinbas Target on the periphery of the Ardala porphyry system demonstrates the merits of well-funded methodical exploration. The early identification of prospectivity in the region surrounding the Ardala copper-gold system by the Ariana team is proof positive of the targeting techniques employed by your Company, and the success of the Joint Venture exploration team. We are, therefore, confident of further exploration success. "Our intention is to grow your Company through the success of these new exploration activities and via mine development at our advanced projects. To achieve the kick-start that this ambitious two-pronged strategy will require, we will be pursuing an appropriate financing policy in the months ahead." Contacts: Ariana Resources plc Tel: 020 7407 3616 Michael Spriggs, Chairman Kerim Sener, Managing Director Beaumont Cornish Limited Tel: 020 7628 3396 Roland Cornish Lothbury Financial Tel: 020 7011 9411 Michael Padley / Libby Moss Alexander David Securities Limited Tel: 020 7448 9820 Nick Bealer / David Scott Loeb Aron & Company Ltd Tel: 020 7628 1128 Peter Freeman / Frank Lucas 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 Southern Africa and Australia. 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 exploring 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 European Goldfields Limited in north-eastern Turkey. The Company's flagship assets are its Sindirgi and Tavsan gold projects. Both projects 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. The total resource inventory of the Company stands at 401,000 ounces of gold equivalent. Loeb Aron & Company Ltd. and Alexander David Securities 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 ---END OF MESSAGE--- This announcement was originally distributed by Hugin. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
UK 100

Latest directors dealings