Bonanza gold and silver grades at Kiziltepe

21 May 2012
AIM / PLUS Markets: AAU

BONANZA GOLD & SILVER GRADES AT KIZILTEPE

Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the gold exploration and development company focused on Turkey, is delighted to report bonanza-grade drilling results from its exploration drilling programme between the Arzu South and Arzu North veins at the Kiziltepe sector of the Red Rabbit Gold Project in Western Turkey.

Highlights:

• Exceptionally high grade mineralised zone identified on the extension of the Derya vein  

• Highest grades ever recorded from the Kiziltepe deposit including: 

• 12.1m @ 13.1 g/t Au + 187.6 g/t Ag (16.5 g/t Au equiv.)  

• including 3.2m @ 38.7 g/t Au + 511 g/t Ag (48.0 g/t Au equiv.) 

• and including 1m @ 65.9 g/t Au + 760 g/t Ag (79.7 g/t Au equiv.) 

• Exploration drilling has also determined that the Arzu North vein system extends to the southeast beneath cover, rather than being truncated by an E-W structure as previously considered.  Intercepts from this drilling include: 

• 34m @ 1.04g/t Au equiv. 

• 7.6m @ 7.60g/t Au equiv. 

• 5.8m @ 5.71g/t Au equiv. 

• Additional results from the eastern most part of the Emel Vein have highlighted an additional prospective zone extending towards the Arzu South structure: 

• 7.4m @ 1.71 g/t Au equivalent 

• These new results highlight significant potential within the "gap zone" - follow-up deeper drilling programme being planned.   

Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented:

"These are truly exceptional drilling results and underline the potential of our Red Rabbit Gold Project.  The grades and width of mineralisation reported are greater than anything we have seen in the seven years that we have been exploring this deposit and importantly prove the high grade vein system extends under cover between the Arzu South and Arzu North structures.  The scale of the project continues to grow with further zones being identified that will only improve the economics of the project which we are advancing towards production.

"The fact that these results derive from an area of cover along a strong geophysical anomaly corridor suggests that there is significant potential in this zone.  We will now look to advance our exploration on the project with drilling focused on identifying mineralisation that could be accessed by underground development originating from either the bottom of the Arzu South or the Arzu North pits."  

Drilling Programme

A field team from the Company's Turkish operating subsidiary, Galata Madencilik San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti. ("Galata"), have supervised the completion of a WL-76 diamond drilling programme on the Kiziltepe deposit using its in-house drilling team.  Ahead of commencing the drilling programme, Galata obtained all necessary environmental and forestry approvals from the provincial government in Balikesir and the State Government in Ankara.

The drilling programme reported here was designed to test an area covered by rhyodacitic cap rocks between Arzu South and Arzu North.  The targets tested coincided with extensions to known vein systems beneath cover, including the Arzu North and Derya veins, and parts of a large and previously untested geophysical anomaly.  The holes drilled in this area total 639.6m and were drilled to depths of between 92 and 160 meters and angled at 60 degrees along a 650 metre "gap zone" between Arzu South and Arzu North.  Drill hole collars were located approximately 50 meters apart.  

A total of 1,995m of diamond drilling has been completed at the Kiziltepe deposit since October 2011.  The latest results confirm the need to complete further exploration drilling in the "gap zone" in particular.  Other complementary exploration work including IP/resistivity and ground-magnetic geophysics and Mobile Metal Ion (MMI) soil sampling is either complete, underway or is being planned.  

Many of the drilling positions for the current programme were constrained by an existing forestry permit.  Consequently the Company will now need to identify optimal drilling positions ahead of obtaining new forestry permits for a deep drilling programme in this area.

Exploration Drilling Results

A summary of exploration drilling results obtained from the "gap zone" is provided in Table 1.  A map showing the location of the drill holes described here and the trends of mineralisation intercepted is shown in Figure 1.  

Driling on an extension of the Derya vein beneath cover has led to the highest recorded drilling intercept for the Company to date.  Drill hole KTP-D18-11, was designed to test the extension of this vein at the point that it adopts a trend that parallels the Arzu South/Arzu North trend.  This hole was drilled to test below the level of earlier drilling in this area and to better understand the occurrence of sporadic high grades and related alteration recorded from nearby drill holes.  The hole was drilled to a depth of 96.9m and identified an intercept of 12.1m @ 13.1 g/t Au + 187.6 g/t Ag (16.5 g/t Au equivalent) from 65m down hole.  Within this were "bonanza-grade" intercepts of 1m @ 65.9 g/t Au + 760g/t Ag and 1m @ 34.7 g/t Au + 392 g/t Ag (41.8 g/t Au equivalent).  A further hole, KTP-D10B-11, was drilled approximately 45m from this position and located another zone of mineralisation (9.8m @ 2.07 g/t Au equiv.) along strike but up dip of this bonanza zone suggesting continuity of the high grade structure but indicating a moderate plunge.  Although more work is required to fully understand the nature of this structure, these results are a highly significant outcome of the current programme.  

Figure 1: Map showing the location of new veins and vein trends identified by the recent drilling programme on Kiziltepe, showing the location of notable drill holes.

Exploration data for the southeastern extent of the Arzu North area was reviewed with the object of reinterpreting the geological continuity of the vein system.  Previous interpretations considered the vein system to be truncated by a E-W fault, which is marked at surface by a gully and distinct change in geology.  An angled exploration hole KTP-D19A-11 was drilled due south from the southeastern end of the Arzu South vein; a position that would permit testing for vein continuity beneath cover rocks of rhyodacitic pumice ignimbrite.  Approximately 19.9m down hole an extensive alteration/stockwork zone was intercepted and yielded 34.1m @ 1.04 g/t Au equivalent.  Towards the end of the hole a crystalline quartz vein was intercepted and yielded 7.6m @ 7.60 g/t Au equivalent.  This hole proved continuity of the Arzu North vein system beneath cover and suggests an improvement of grade towards the southeast.  A second hole, KTP-D19B-11, was drilled from a similar location but was designed to test to 160m depth.  Results from this hole have not yet been received in full but an intercept of 5.8m @ 5.71g/t Au equivalent is reported from 62.2m down hole depth.  

Hole KTP-D17B-11 was located at the southeastern end of the newly identified Emel Vein.  This hole also returned several intercepts, the best being 7.4m @1.71g/t Au equivalent.  The hole targeted a gently dipping structure which was first intercepted in its sister hole, KTP-D17A-11.  Initial results suggest that this structure shows an increases in grade towards the southeast.  This suggests continuity of the structure towards the northern end of the Arzu South vein and more work will be needed to better define the potential of this area.  

Table 1: New drilling results for the Kiziltepe prospect.  Results reported for intercepts >1m using a 0.5 g/t Au lower cut, no upper cut and a 1m minimum composite width.

Hole ID	From (m)	To (m)	Interval Width (m)	Gold Grade (Au g/t)	Silver Grade (Ag g/t)	Gold Equivalent (Au equiv. g/t)
KTP-D10B-11	17.00	26.80	9.80	1.85	11.89	2.07
	77.00	78.00	1.00	0.81	13.00	1.05
KTP-D17B-11	40.30	47.40	7.10	0.88	12.25	1.10
	53.30	60.70	7.40	1.34	20.53	1.71
KTP-D18-11	39.00	40.00	1.00	0.68	20.00	1.04
	65.00	77.10	12.10	13.05	187.64	16.46
	86.00	87.20	1.20	4.64	29.10	5.17
KTP-D19A-11	19.90	54.00	34.10	0.89	8.47	1.04
	66.00	68.00	2.00	1.25	75.20	2.62
	79.00	86.60	7.60	5.24	129.72	7.60
KTP-D19B-11	22.00	23.00	1.00	2.10	12.20	2.32
	27.00	28.00	1.00	1.68	17.60	2.00
	48.00	49.00	1.00	0.55	1.70	0.58
	62.20	68.00	5.80	3.81	104.70	5.71
	81.00	82.00	1.00	4.02	146.00	6.67

Sampling and Assaying Procedures

WL-76 size (core diameter 57.5mm) drill-core samples from the drilling programme on the Kiziltepe deposit were cut in half by a diamond saw and sent for assay.  Sample recovery has averaged 87% in the mineralised zones.

All the samples have been prepared by the ALS Chemex preparation facility in Izmir and assayed by 30g fire assay at the ALS Chemex laboratory in Romania.  Standard, blank and duplicate samples are being used in the sample batches in line with the Company's quality control procedures.  Quality control checks have determined that all blanks and standards have passed and duplicate samples have shown excellent correlations. Laboratory sample preparation, assaying procedures and chain of custody are appropriately controlled. The Company maintains an archive of half core samples and a photographic record of all cores for future reference.

Contacts:

Ariana Resources plc	Tel: [phone]
Michael Spriggs, Chairman
Kerim Sener, Managing Director
Beaumont Cornish Limited	Tel: [phone]
Roland Cornish / Felicity Geidt
Fairfax I.S. PLC	Tel: [phone]
Ewan Leggat / Laura Littley
St Brides Media & Finance Ltd	Tel: [phone]
Susie Geliher / Hugo de Salis

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 developing a portfolio of prospective licences selected on the basis of its in-house geological and remote-sensing database.

The Company's flagship assets are its Sindirgi 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 of the Company stands at 448,000 ounces of gold equivalent.  

Ariana maintains a Joint Venture in northeastern Turkey and also has a strategic investment in Tigris Resources Limited (www.tigrisresources.com), a private Jersey-based exploration company, which is focused on the exploration of copper and gold deposits in southeastern Turkey.  Ariana retains approximately 13% of Tigris Resources Limited.  

Fairfax I.S. PLC are 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.

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