Placing to Raise GBP 500,000

14 January 2009
AIM / PLUS Markets: AAU

                      PLACING TO RAISE £500,000

Ariana  Resources  plc   ("Ariana"  or  "the   Company"),  the   gold
exploration and development company focused on Turkey, is pleased  to
announce the placing  of 50,000,000  new Ordinary Shares  of 1  pence
each with certain institutional and private investors ("the Placing")
at a price of 1 pence per share, raising £500,000 before expenses.

Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented:

"This Placing was  completed under very  difficult market  conditions
and we  would  like  to  thank  Mr.  R.  Bruce  Rowan*  and  European
Goldfields Limited (the "Committed Investors") for their support, and
to thank  the  efforts  of  our  brokers  in  ensuring  a  successful
outcome.  In addition, the majority of Directors of the Company  also
intend to support the Placing.

"As part of a full review process, the Company has initiated  several
cost-cutting measures  and, like  many companies  in our  sector,  is
reviewing planned exploration programmes for 2009 to make best use of
the Company's resources.

"Despite  the  uncertainty  in  the  sector,  the  Company  is   very
well-placed to further explore options for the near-term  development
of the  Kiziltepe  prospect,  which received  final  permitting  last
November.  The Company  continues to work  towards defining the  most
value-added route for the project in the short to medium term.

"The Tavsan prospect has also  demonstrated significant merit and  we
plan to initiate  scoping-level studies  on this  project during  the
year. Further exploratory work will also be undertaken on and  around
the prospect.

"We will update shareholders  on the outcome  of these activities  in
due course."

* Mr. R. Bruce Rowan is Chairman  and CEO of Starvest plc, a  company
which currently owns 17.8% of Ariana Resources plc.

Details of Placing and Related Party Transaction

The Placing was  undertaken for 50,000,000  new ordinary shares  (the
"Placing Shares") of 1 pence each ("New Ordinary Shares") at 1  pence
per New Ordinary Share.  A total of 12,300,000 new warrants are to be
issued to  the  Committed Investors  to  subscribe for  new  ordinary
shares at a  strike price of  1 pence  with an exercise  period of  4
years in consideration for their commitment.

The Placing is conditional  upon admission to trading  on AIM of  the
new Ordinary Shares.  Application  will be made  to the London  Stock
Exchange for the  new Ordinary Shares  to be issued  pursuant to  the
Placing to be  admitted to trading  on AIM.  It  is anticipated  that
Admission will  become effective  and dealings  will commence  on  20
January 2009.  The new Ordinary Shares  will rank pari passu, in  all
respects, with the  existing Ordinary  Shares that  are currently  in
issue and are traded  on AIM.  Following  admission of these  shares,
there will be a total of  142,255,078 Ordinary Shares in issue.   The
warrants will not be listed.

European Goldfields Limited, which currently owns 18,571,016 Ordinary
Shares or 20.1% of the Company's issued share capital have subscribed
for 9,700,000 Placing Shares, and accordingly this is a related party
transaction under  the  AIM  Rules.   With  the  exception  of  David
Reading, who is also a  director of European Goldfields Limited,  the
independent  Directors  consider  that,  having  consulted  with  the
Company's nominated adviser,  the terms of  the transaction are  fair
and reasonable insofar as Ariana's shareholders are concerned.

Certain Directors  of  the  Company  intend  to  participate  in  the
Placing, on  the same  terms  as outlined  above: the  Directors  and
related parties will hold a total of 5,859,500 shares (not  including
European Goldfields Limited), corresponding to 4.12% of the Company.

Following the  Placing,  the  Directors'  shareholdings  will  be  as
follows:


+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|             | Placing   | Shareholding | Percentage holding       |
|             | Shares    | following    | of     issued     shares |
|             |           | Placing      | following Placing        |
|-------------+-----------+--------------+--------------------------|
| Kerim Sener | 1,000,000 | 3,650,000    | 2.57%                    |
| *           |           |              |                          |
|-------------+-----------+--------------+--------------------------|
| Michael     | 150,000   | 387,500      | 0.27%                    |
| Spriggs     |           |              |                          |
|-------------+-----------+--------------+--------------------------|
| Michael  de | 500,000   | 1,822,000    | 1.28%                    |
| Villiers    |           |              |                          |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+


* Kerim  Sener's  shareholding  currently  includes  shares  held  by
related parties.

Contacts:


Ariana Resources plc               Tel: [phone]
Michael Spriggs, Chairman
Kerim Sener, Managing Director

Beaumont Cornish Limited           Tel: [phone]
Roland Cornish

Lothbury Financial                 Tel: [phone]
Michael Padley / Louise Davis

Alexander David Securities Limited Tel: [phone]
Nick Bealer / David Scott

Loeb Aron & Company Ltd            Tel: [phone]
Peter Freeman / Frank Lucas


Editors' note:

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

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