Ariana Regulatory News (AAU)

29 June 2018

AIM: AAU

Ariana Resources plc

("Ariana Resources" or "the Company)

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 10am today, Michael de Villiers, Chairman, will make the following statement:

"2017 opened up a new chapter for Ariana Resources, as we became one of only a handful of junior explorers on AIM to have transitioned successfully to producer status.

"Having entered commercial production of gold and silver, we are now looking toward the next phase of our business strategy, which is to further develop the three strands of our current portfolio: bringing on stream additional resources identified at the Kiziltepe Sector, planning and permitting of the Tavşan Sector of the Red Rabbit project, and continuing the exploration and development of our wholly-owned Salinbaş Project.

"It has been our long-held view that Salinbaş, located within the 'Hot Gold Corridor', contains resources well in excess of the 1Moz we have already identified. The potential of Salinbaş has not gone unnoticed and, given the potential significance of this resource, we believe it is important that we better define the resource potential and be discerning in terms of any future partnerships or agreements we might conclude. 

"The Group's performance in 2018 to date has been extremely encouraging, underscored by strong operational results from the Kiziltepe Mine and positive resource oriented developments at Salinbas and within the Red Rabbit Project area. The Board continues to expect gold production figures for the full year to be in line with expectations."

Contacts:

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.