Last checked at 28 Jun 2019 07:00
28 June 2019
AIM: AAU
AGM Statement
Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the exploration and development company operating in Turkey, announces that at its Annual General Meeting, which is to be held at 11am today, Michael de Villiers, Chairman, will make the following statement:
"2018 was an exceptional year for Ariana Resources, as the Company continued to make significant progress at its Red Rabbit Gold Project. In its first full year of commercial production, the Kiziltepe Mine produced 27,110 ounces of gold. This was 36% higher than forecast for the year and it achieved an average operating cash-cost of US$415 per ounce, placing Ariana among the lowest cost quartile of gold producers globally. Following this positive performance last year, we remain on track to hit our 2019 production target of 25,000 ounces of gold. The strong positive cashflow generated from Kiziltepe has enabled the repayment of c.70% of the US$33 million JV construction capital loan to date. Full repayment of this loan is to occur by April 2020.
"There were also a number of important developments during the year at our highly prospective Salinbas Gold Project in north-eastern Turkey. The recent upgrade of one of the key licences to operational status confers our rights to that asset for a further 10 years, allowing us to advance our exploration and development plans, while the remaining two licences await renewal or upgrade to operational status for a further 10 years. We look forward to providing further updates on Salinbas once we have received and assessed the results of the recent drilling programme.
"The rally in the gold price in recent weeks has clearly placed gold and gold miners back on the agenda of investors and market commentators. Pleasingly, this rally is also being reflected in our share price, which has strengthened significantly and is up 60% over the past six months. This creates a robust environment in which the Company can develop its other Turkish gold projects and to reach its goal of achieving production of 50,000 ounces per annum.
"Looking ahead, we are also at an advanced stage of evaluating other interests in the geographic region of Turkey, whilst maintaining our focus on the highly prospective region of the Tethyan Metallogenic Belt. We recognise the importance of diversifying our portfolio partly in to other commodities, and particularly those associated with the development of new technologies, within countries representing low risk profiles. We look forward to updating the market on these developments in due course.
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank my fellow board members, our management team and employees in Turkey, including those within our JV Company, and our shareholders for their continued support and engagement."
Contacts:
Ariana Resources plc | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7407 3616 |
Michael de Villiers, Chairman | |
Kerim Sener, Managing Director | |
Beaumont Cornish Limited | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7628 3396 |
Roland Cornish / Felicity Geidt | |
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7886 2500 |
Atholl Tweedie / James Stearns | |
Yellow Jersey PR Limited | Tel: +44 (0) 20 3004 9512 |
Felicity Winkles/ Tim Thompson / Harriet Jackson / Henry Wilkinson | arianaresources@yellowjerseypr.com |
Editors' Note:
About Ariana Resources:
Ariana is an exploration and development company with mining operations focused on epithermal gold-silver and porphyry copper-gold deposits in Turkey, the largest gold producing country in Europe. The Company is developing a portfolio of prospective licences originally selected on the basis of its in-house geological and remote-sensing database, which now contain a total of 1.6 million ounces of gold and other metals (as at end-2017). Ariana's objective is to cost-effectively add value to its projects through focused exploration and to develop its operations, primarily through well-financed joint ventures.
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, form part of a 50:50 Joint Venture with Proccea Construction Co. The Kiziltepe Sector of the Red Rabbit Project is fully-permitted and is currently in production. The total resource inventory at the Red Rabbit Project and wider project area stands at c. 605,000 ounces of gold equivalent (as at end-2017). At Kiziltepe a Net Smelter Return ("NSR") royalty of up to 2.5% on production is payable to Franco-Nevada Corporation. At Tavsan an NSR royalty of up to 2% on future production is payable to Sandstorm Gold.
In north-eastern Turkey, Ariana owns 100% of the Salinbas Gold Project, comprising the Salinbas gold-silver deposit and the Ardala copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry among other prospects. The total resource inventory of the Salinbas project area is c. 1 million ounces of gold equivalent. A NSR royalty of up to 2% on future production is payable to Eldorado Gold Corporation.
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited are broker 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.