Options, Shares, Shareholding

Ariana Resources PLC
13 October 2005



13 October 2005

AIM: AAU
            GRANT OF OPTIONS, ISSUE OF SHARES AND HOLDING IN COMPANY

Ariana Resources plc ('Ariana' or 'the Company'), the gold exploration company
focused exclusively on Turkey, announces that it has granted 970,000 share
options to certain directors, consultants and employees of the Company.

The Options have been granted under the Company's unapproved share option scheme
to purchase ordinary shares of 1p in the capital of the Company at an exercise
price of 13 pence, exercisable for a period of ten years. The exercise price has
been calculated as a premium to the average of the middle market quotations as
set out in the Official List of the London Stock Exchange plc, for the three
Dealing Days immediately preceding the Date of Grant. The total number of
options outstanding under the scheme is 3,141,000.

Grant of share options to Directors was as follows:

Director             Position                       New Options      Total Held
Michael J Spriggs    Chairman (Non executive)           195,000         629,200
Steven J Poulton     Chief Executive                     95,000         652,223
Matthew R Grainger   Operations Director                 95,000         652,223
A Kerim Sener        Exploration Director                95,000         652,223
Mike A Etheridge     Non executive                      195,000         195,000
Michael de Villiers  Non executive                      195,000         195,000

Issue of new shares
The Company announces that it has issued and allotted 35,800 new Ordinary shares
to the Company's broker, Ambrian Partners Limited, in satisfaction of £4,296
payable at 12 pence per share for fees related to the Company's recent admission
to AIM. The issue of new shares brings the total number of Ordinary shares in
issue to 31,466,865. Application will be made for the new shares to be admitted
to trading on AIM.

Holding in Company
The Company announces that it received notification on 12 October 2005 that as
at the close of business on 7 October 2005 Eastbound Resources Limited has a
notifiable interest of 1,265,833 ordinary shares of 1p each, representing 4.02%
of the Company's issued share capital.

Contacts:

Ariana Resources plc
Steven Poulton, Chief Executive                 Tel: [phone]
[e-mail]                 Mobile: [phone]

Beaumont Cornish Limited                        Tel: [phone]
Roland Cornish

Bankside Consultants
Michael Padley / Susan Scott                    Tel: [phone]

About Ariana Resources

Ariana is a technology-driven exploration company focused on the potential
discovery of multi-million ounce epithermal gold-silver and porphyry copper-gold
deposits within the Tethyan metallogenic belt of Turkey. The Company has a
portfolio of prospective licences covering over 1,000km2, selected on the basis
of its advanced in-house remote sensing database. Ariana's broker is Ambrian
Partners Limited and Beaumont Cornish Limited is nominated adviser.




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