Last checked at 
(Sharecast News) - Mineral explorer and developer Ariana Resources updated the market on the ongoing due diligence programme concerning the Dokwe Gold Project in Zimbabwe on Thursday, owned by Rockover Holdings.
The AIM-traded firm said that as part of the due diligence process, it had completed 1,222 metres of diamond drilling, with two holes drilled at Dokwe North and two at Dokwe Central.
It said the drilling effort aimed to enhance the understanding of the geological structure and potential mineralisation of the site.
Additionally, a metallurgical consultant had initiated an assessment of Dokwe's metallurgy and potential processing routes based on a 2022 pre-feasibility study.
The assessment followed a recent site visit, indicating progress in evaluating the project's viability and economic potential.
To deepen its understanding of gold mineralisation controls, Ariana said it had engaged a structural geological consultant.
Detailed structural logging of newly-acquired core samples was underway to complement that analysis.
In addition to geological and metallurgical assessments, Ariana said it was conducting extensive geochemical analysis through a programme using portable x-ray fluorescence (pXRF) technology.
Over 15,000 metres of core samples, both old and new, were being analysed to define the geochemical characteristics of the mineralisation.
Currently, Ariana holds 2.1% of Rockover Holdings, with exclusive discussions between the companies ongoing.
"We are very pleased to report that our due-diligence drilling programme has now been completed on the feasibility-stage Dokwe Gold Project," said managing director Dr Kerim Sener.
"The programme was professionally conducted by the Rockover team, who worked collaboratively with our site team in Zimbabwe.
"Preparation and analysis of the drill core will commence soon, following which these results will be compared to historical project data to confirm our understanding of the grade distribution and controls on gold mineralisation."
Dr Sener said that, based on the company's assessment of the project to date, including recent geological observations from drilling, it was pleased to report that its confidence in the opportunity had grown.
"There are very few more-than-one million ounce gold projects globally with straightforward metallurgy, which are at a feasibility stage of development and have more than 95% of their JORC mineral resources in the measured and indicated categories.
"It has also been pleasing to note that Zimbabwe is attracting increasing exploration and mining interest. In particular, several foreign-owned AIM/LSE and ASX-listed companies have recently entered the country during the past year alone on a variety of projects, including those focused on gold, nickel and lithium.
"Our initial market soundings in the UK and Australia relating to our potential interest in the feasibility-stage development of Dokwe have also been positive."
Meanwhile, Dr Sener said the Rockover and Ariana boards were represented at Indaba 2024 in Cape Town, which coincided with a site visit to Dokwe.
"During this visit, we discussed our potential future collaboration on the project.
"We recently introduced Rockover to our operations team and project partners in Türkiye, with a longer-term view that there may be opportunities to collaborate with them specifically on the feasibility-stage development of Dokwe.
"We expect to announce our potential future involvement in Dokwe around the end of Q1 2024."
At 1124 GMT, shares in Ariana Resources were up 0.52% at 1.73p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
