Significant Gold System Confirmed At Kepez West

RNS Number : 2136S

Ariana Resources PLC

16 March 2016

 

16 March 2016

AIM: AAU

Ariana Resources

SIGNIFICANT GOLD SYSTEM CONFIRMED AT KEPEZ WEST

Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), is pleased to announce positive drilling results from the Kepez West Project, following its recent drilling programme in Turkey.  Kepez West is located within the Red Rabbit joint venture, within only 12km trucking distance of the processing plant at Kiziltepe, currently under construction and targeting production in H2 2016.

Highlights:

·    Positive drilling results across 1,300m of strike confirm the presence of a significant near-surface mineralised system.

·     Notable intercepts include 6m @ 2.7g/t Au + 16g/t Ag from 10m, 4m @ 3.2g/t Au + 23g/t Ag from 8m, 6m @ 2.2 g/t Au +13 g/t Ag from 6m. 

·   Results suggest a shallow-dipping (10-20°) stockwork vein-hosted style of mineralisation, with probable near-surface enrichment, amenable to low strip-ratio open-pit mining.

·    Planning under way for the commencement of trenching across the project, with potential follow-up shallow RC drilling.

·    Targeting delivery of a mineable resource from Kepez West, that may be scheduled with mining at Kiziltepe.

Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented: 

"The results of our recent drilling programme at Kepez West has confirmed the presence of a significant mineralised system.  Many drilling intercepts returned good grades of gold and silver within close proximity to surface.  This is extremely encouraging as it suggests that any resource potential is likely to be very shallow in this area, and therefore amenable to low strip-ratio open-pit mining.  Our future work will focus on defining a shallow resource in this area which, in time, may be scheduled with the output from our nearby Kiziltepe Mine, which will be entering production in H2 2016." 

Drilling Programme Details

The drilling programme at Kepez West follows several earlier phases of exploration to define the target zone of interest, including mapping of surface veins and alteration, rock-chip and soil geochemical sampling, ground IP/resistivity work and a short programme of diamond drilling (385m) in the eastern section of Kepez West. In November-December 2015, 1,543m of Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling was carried out by Spektra Jeotek San. ve Tic. A.S., supervised by the Ariana exploration team. Most of the holes drilled were shallow, with an average depth of 77m, and a maximum depth of 108m. A total of 579 samples were sent for assay, with sampling conducted at the discretion of the Company geologist according to geological logging. Sampling was conducted using a riffle splitter, and samples were sent to ALS Global laboratories in Izmir for assay. The logging to date shows gold-silver mineralisation associated with a low-sulphidation type stockwork vein system, hosted by dacitic volcanic rock, exhibiting strong argillic alteration. The stockwork veining and alteration appears to be hosted by a shallowly dipping structure, dipping 10-20° to the south.

Exploration Potential

To date, only 1,928m of drilling has been conducted at the Kepez West prospect, including 1,543m from the most recent drilling programme.  Mineralisation has not been constrained down-dip or along strike, and surface mapping suggests that the mineralised system could be at least 1,800m long and large areas remain untested (Figure 1).  Initial drilling results are indicative of grades and widths that could be economic to mine, particularly as the highest grades intersected were located within 10-15m of surface.  The shallow-dipping, ENE-striking host structure appears to be a low-angle extensional fault zone, associated with an intrusive caldera identified to the south (Figure 2).  In the event that an ore body is defined through future work in this area, it would have an extremely low strip-ratio and therefore be economic to mine.

Outcrop at Kepez West is sparse and generally poorly exposed, mostly due to extensive farming that has obscured or transported in situ materials. This is the primary reason that the potential at Kepez West has not been noted until relatively recently. It is likely, from the mapping conducted to date by Ariana, that the mineralised structure at Kepez West is interconnected beneath a degree of surface scree and soil cover.  Further work will concentrate on trenching and drilling to define the mineralisation beneath transported rock in the soil profile.

Details of the Kepez West Project

Kepez West is located 12km hauling distance from the Kiziltepe mine site and plant. It is predominantly situated in an area of farmland, which means that forestry permits are not required to conduct exploration over the majority of the mineralised area.  Mineralisation at Kepez West occurs within an ENE-trending zone of argillic alteration and silicification associated with low-sulphidation stockwork veins hosted by dacitic volcanic rocks, with some higher-grade mineralisation restricted to massive quartz veins which probably occupy E-W trends.  The recent drilling results suggest that the zones of mineralisation are shallowly dipping (10-20°) towards the south. Previous surface sampling in the area had identified several highly anomalous outcrop and float samples including 14.5 g/t Au + 39 g/t Ag, 9.7 g/t Au + 68 g/t Ag, 6.3 g/t Au + 32 g/t Ag, 5.9 g/t Au + 24 g/t Ag and 4.3 g/t Au + 30 g/t Ag (announced 23 September 2013), which are as yet not fully explained.

In 2012, limited initial drilling in the area returned an intercept of 8m @ 3.6 g/t Au + 24 g/t Ag from 2.7m down-hole depth, at the eastern-end of Kepez West in hole KPZ-D08-12. Three other holes from the same drilling programme encountered anomalous gold mineralisation (0.4 to 0.8 g/t Au) with silver up to about 12 g/t over greater than 1m intervals, occurring broadly within the same mineralised trend. Core logging showed that the mineralisation is contained within a 1,800m x 200m fault zone which also displays extensive argillic alteration. The Company has partial IP/Resistivity geophysics coverage over the mineralised system at Kepez West, in addition to ground magnetics. This data was integrated with field mapping and geochemistry datasets to produce the targets drilled in late 2015 discussed here.

Future Work

Follow-up work at Kepez West will include trenching and shallow RC drilling to confirm the probable shallow-dipping geometry of the ore body along strike from known areas of mineralisation. Ultimately, the aim is to define a shallow, open-pittable resource, suitable for mining and trucking to the Kiziltepe processing plant, which is located 12km away via predominantly asphalt roads.

Click on, or paste the following link into your web browser, to view the associated PDF document:

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/2136S_-2016-3-15.pdf

Contacts:

Ariana Resources plc	Tel: [phone]
Michael de Villiers, Chairman
Kerim Sener, Managing Director
Beaumont Cornish Limited	Tel: [phone]
Roland Cornish / Felicity Geidt
Beaufort Securities Limited	Tel: [phone]
Jon Belliss
Loeb Aron & Company Ltd.	Tel: [phone]
John Beresford-Peirse
IFC Advisory Limited	Tel: [phone]
Tim Metcalfe Graham Herring Heather Armstrong

Editors' Note:

Competent Person

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 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.

Glossary of Technical Terms:

"Ag" the chemical symbol for silver;

"Au" the chemical symbol for gold;

"g/t" grams per tonne;

"m" metres;

"RC" Reverse Circulation drilling.

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