LONDON (Alliance News) - Gold miner Ariana Resources PLC on Friday outlined new development plans after finishing drilling at the Kizilcukur project in Turkey.
Ariana has now finished 746 metres at Kizilcukur, while the building of a new road has started and plans are also underway for trial mining at the site.
Ariana produced 27,110 ounces of gold from Kizilcukur in 2018, well ahead of 20,000 ounce guidance.
Looking forward, Ariana is set to start infill, geotechnical, and hydrological drilling at Tavsan next week, and is also set to start 2,000 metre of drilling at the Salinbas project in May.
The company is close to finalising permitting for a 10,000 metre drilling programme at Salinbas, it added.
Managing Director Kerim Sener said: "We are very pleased with the current pace of progress across our exploration project areas. Our field team is currently active across all of our sites simultaneously; the highest level of exploration and development activity undertaken in the history of the company."
"In western Turkey, project development work is continuing at the Kizilcukur, Ivrindi and Tavsan sites which are located in close proximity to our flagship Kiziltepe gold mine. Furthermore, additional resource-focused work is being directed towards extending the life of mine at Kiziltepe."
"In eastern Turkey, work at Salinbas, our large gold and base-metal deposit with over one million ounces of gold already defined, has started early in the field season in order to ensure we are in a position to commence a 2,000 metre reverse circulation drilling programme during May 2019," he said.
Shares were 4.8% higher on Friday at a price of 1.86 pence each.
Ariana (AAU)