Placing and Drill Programme

Ariana Resources PLC
11 May 2006

                                  


11 May 2006
AIM: AAU
ARIANA RESOURCES PLC

                               PRIVATE PLACEMENT

                   DRILLING TO START AT SINDIRGI GOLD PROJECT


Ariana Resources plc ('Ariana' or 'the Company'), the gold exploration company
focused exclusively on Turkey, announces the conditional placing of 15,384,617
new Ordinary Shares of 1p each with certain institutional and private investors
('the Placing') at a price of 13 pence per share, raising £2,000,000 before
expenses. The net proceeds of the Placing will be used to accelerate exploration
with a drilling programme at the Sindirgi gold project in western Turkey, from
where the Company has announced a number of encouraging gold discoveries.


  * Private Placement raising £2 million with strong institutional support
  * Resource definition drilling programme to be undertaken at Sindirgi gold
    project


Steven Poulton, Chief Executive, commented:

'The response to our fundraising was excellent, with significant support
received from both existing and new institutional investors. With more than
adequate funding in place a drilling programme will be undertaken at the
Company's 100% owned Sindirgi gold project in western Turkey. The project
exhibits many hallmarks of a one million ounce potential gold system, with over
45km of mapped gold-silver bearing epithermal quartz veins, as well as numerous
recently identified gold bearing silicified bodies and wide stockworks across
its 224km2 area. Over the next twelve months, the Company plans to drill the
Kiziltepe and Kepez prospect areas, these being the two most advanced prospects
out of the five defined to date. In addition, a systematic exploration campaign
will be undertaken across additional prospects at Sindirgi where little or no
exploration has been undertaken to date.


'This development marks a significant step change in Ariana's growth profile as
the Company advances towards a defined resource base. We look forward to keeping
shareholders advised of the Company's progress'.


Certain Directors of the Company intend to participate in the Placing following
the announcement of the Company's final results, on the same terms as outlined
above. The Placing is conditional upon admission to trading on AIM of the new
Ordinary Shares. Application will be made for the admission of the new Ordinary
Shares to trading on AIM and it is expected that admission will occur and
dealings will commence in the new Ordinary Shares on Friday 19 May 2006. The new
Ordinary Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing Ordinary
Shares which are currently traded on AIM. Following admission of these shares
there will be a total of 46,851,482 Ordinary Shares in issue.



Contacts:

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

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


About Ariana Resources

Ariana is a technology-driven exploration company focused on the discovery of
multi-million ounce potential epithermal gold-silver and porphyry copper-gold
deposits within the Tethyan metallogenic belt of Turkey. The Company has a
portfolio of prospective licences covering approximately 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 the Company's nominated
adviser. For further information on Ariana you are invited to visit the
Company's website at www.arianaresources.com.






                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange