Positive Drilling Results At Kiziltepe

RNS Number : 4707H

Ariana Resources PLC

01 December 2015

 

1 December 2015

AIM: AAU

Ariana Resources

Positive Drilling Results At kiziltepe

Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), is pleased to announce that it has received results for drilling undertaken on its Kiziltepe Project.  Kiziltepe is part of the Red Rabbit Joint Venture with Proccea Construction Co. and will be 50% owned by Ariana once mine construction is completed in H2 16. 

Highlights:

·    Deep drilling at Arzu South yields several positive intercepts, including 11m @ 4.07 g/t Gold equiv. and 7m at 2.96 g/t Gold equiv.

·     Drilling increases confidence in the presence of several plunging shoots extending beyond the base of the current optimised pit.

·     Results provide confidence in the potential for underground mining targets, which need to be tested in future drilling along strike and down dip.

·     These results, in addition to further drilling, ongoing at the time of this release, will be undertaken to support revision to the mineral resource for Kiziltepe.

Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented: 

"This confirms our understanding that the Kiziltepe Sector contains the potential to host a significant mineral system that has only been partially tested, particularly at depth within the Arzu vein structure.  The results of this drilling programme provide further confidence in our resource model and ensures that we will have access to high-grade ore even at the very end of our projected mine life at Arzu South.  The intercepts reported are in line with our expectations for the lowermost parts of the current orebody and it is exceptionally encouraging to obtain such wide intercepts with good grades right at the bottom of the current pit design.  There also remains scope for future drill testing beyond the limits of the current pit design, both along strike and down-dip." 

Details of the Drilling Programme

In October 2015, a short Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling programme was carried out at the Arzu South vein, the first pit area due to be mined in the Kiziltepe Sector, within the Red Rabbit Project. The drilling work was carried out by Spektra Jeotek San. ve Tic. A.S., supervised by the Ariana exploration team, and team members from Ariana's Turkish subsidiary, Galata Madencilik San. ve Tic. Ltd. ("Galata"). A total of five RC holes for 594m were drilled at Arzu South, as part of a wider exploration drilling programme throughout the Red Rabbit Project, which is ongoing at the time of this news release.

The RC holes were designed to test a series of apparently plunging shoots which form part of the Arzu South resource model, specifically targeted at and below the bottom of the current pit design. These areas were selected due to their current low drill data density and to test the geological model.

Drilling Results

A summary table of the significant intercepts received from the drilling at Arzu South is shown in Table 1. A long section showing grade*thickness contours in the deposit, including the position of the most recent results, is shown in Figure 1.

One hole, KTP-RC05-15, yielded high-grade mineralisation, with 11m at 4.07 g/t Gold equivalent. This confirmed the existence of a high-grade ore shoot which extends to the base of the current optimised pit.  KTP-RC01-15 and KTP-RC02-15 confirmed similar, wide and moderate grade shoots in line with expectations.

With current drill data coverage, the high-grade ore shoots at Kiziltepe appear to enter a lower, depleted grade zone at around 100m vertical depth from surface. KTP-RC03-15 and KTP-RC04-15 confirmed this model. Future drilling will seek to ascertain whether higher grades can be intersected below this depletion zone, which will form part of an underground mining target.

The recent drilling at Arzu South, in conjunction with further drilling at Kiziltepe between Arzu South and Arzu North, will be included in a revision to the JORC mineral resource in 2016.

Table 1: Significant intercepts from recent drilling at Arzu South Vein, Kiziltepe Sector, Red Rabbit Mining Project. 0.5 lower cut-off, no top cut, maximum 2m internal dilution. Gold equivalent is the sum of the gold grade and the gold equivalent grade of silver based on a gold:silver price ratio of 60:1.  This ratio represents the long-term (average historic) gold:silver price ratio. 

Hole ID	From (m)	To (m)	Interval Width	Gold Grade (Au g/t)	Silver Grade (Ag g/t)	Gold Equivalent (Au equiv. g/t)
KTP-RC01-15	92	99	7	1.46	47.04	2.24
KTP-RC02-15	45	46	1	0.85	5.10	0.94
KTP-RC02-15	56	57	1	0.75	5.80	0.85
KTP-RC02-15	84	91	7	1.61	81.17	2.96
KTP-RC03-15	123	124	1	1.67	21.80	2.03
KTP-RC03-15	131	132	1	1.46	62.00	2.49
KTP-RC04-15	109	115	6	0.50	1.52	0.53
KTP-RC04-15	122	124	2	0.89	25.75	1.32
KTP-RC05-15	92	103	11	3.06	60.48	4.07
KTP-RC05-15	109	110	1	1.13	27.40	1.59

Please see Figure 1 here:

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/4707H_-2015-11-30.pdf

Sampling and Assaying Procedures

Ariana considers that the RC drilling method is applicable to this style of mineralisation due to physical differences between mineralised and un-mineralised material and the high recoveries achieved through fractured ground.  It has previously been determined that there is no particular bias between the RC and diamond drilling results on the veins at Kiziltepe, and that the RC drilling data will contribute to a revised mineral resource estimate.  

160 samples were selected, based on geological logging of RC chips during drilling, and sent for assay. All samples from the drilling programme undertaken by Ariana Resources plc, were prepared and assayed by 30g fire assay, and ICP-MS multi-element analysis, at the ALS Global preparation facility in Izmir.  Routine re-assaying of all samples assaying greater than 10 g/t of Gold and 100 g/t of Silver has also been completed by ALS Global.  Standard, blank and duplicate samples are being used in the sample batches, which is in line with the Company's quality control procedures.  Laboratory sample preparation, assaying procedures and chain of custody are appropriately controlled.  The Company maintains an archive of reference RC chip samples, in addition to all sample pulps and splits.

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

Editor's 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 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:

"Au equiv." Gold equivalent

"g/t" grams per tonne

"JORC" the Joint Ore Reserves Committee

"m" Metres

"oz" Ounces

Ends

 

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