Ariana Regulatory News (AAU)

10 Nov 2005 08:08

Ariana Resources PLC10 November 2005 10 November 2005AIM: AAU ARIANA INTERSECTS HIGH GRADES AT KIZILTEPE GOLD PROSPECT IN TURKEY Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the gold exploration companyfocused exclusively on Turkey, announces that it has received and compiledresults from its initial channel sampling programme, principally undertaken onthe "Arzu South" vein, at the Kiziltepe gold prospect in Balikesir province,western Turkey. * Best channel intersect of 6.29 g/t Au over 13.5m true thickness * Over 300m of channel sampling completed along 1,195m of strike * New veins discovered from surface mapping Channel sampling on the Arzu South vein was designed to verify the gold gradesand widths at surface as indicated by historical drill data. Elsewhere theprogramme is being applied to test the grade and geometry of other, less wellexposed veins. Approximately 150m of trenching has been completed in order toexpose veins in areas of shallow cover. Since September, two field teams from the Company's Turkish operatingsubsidiary, Galata Madencilik San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti. ("Galata"), have completed108 rock saw channels, of between 1 and 13.5m in length and mostly at 12.5mintervals, along 1,195m of vein strike. On Arzu South vein 38 channels have beencompleted to date along approximately 400m of strike. The vein was located andsignificant mineralisation encountered in all but eight channels. Eight furtherchannels terminated in vein or stockwork material grading above 0.5 g/t Au.Selected intersections from the Arzu South vein are presented in Table 1 below. To date 300 samples have been collected and sent for assay. Of these, 121samples have returned grades of less than 0.5 g/t Au (40.5% of the total), 46samples between 0.5-1 g/t Au (15.5% of total), 108 between 1-5 g/t Au (36% oftotal) and 25 samples above 5 g/t Au (8% of total), with a peak grade of 17.1 g/t Au. Steven Poulton, Chief Executive, commented:"We are encouraged by the results from the channel sampling programme on theArzu South vein, where gold mineralisation has consistently been intersectedalong strike. We believe that the discovery of a zone grading up to 6.29 g/tover 13.5m provides powerful evidence of the potential of the Arzu South veinand of the wider Kiziltepe prospect in general". Table 1: Selected intersections from the Arzu South vein channel samplingprogramme: Line Intersection Intersection NotesNumber Width (m) Grade (g/t) AS2 1.8 8.12AS3 4.8 4.05AS4 0.5 3.08AS5 13.5 6.29 Channel ends in grade >0.5g/t at both endsAS6 4.0 5.42AS7 6.8 3.43 Channel ends in grade >0.5g/t at both endsAS8 4.5 4.24AS9 5.8 1.79AS10 1.7 4.67AS11 2.5 2.11AS12 1.0 2.49AS15 2.0 2.44AS16 1.5 2.76 Channel ends in grade >0.5g/t at both endsAS20 2.5 3.39 Channel ends in grade >0.5g/t at both endsAS21 4.0 2.32 Channel ends in grade >0.5g/t at both endsAS23 2.6 3.47 Channel ends in grade >0.5g/t at both endsAS24 2.0 2.37 Channel ends in grade >0.5g/t at both endsAS25 1.0 9.95AS29 3.0 2.13 Channel ends in grade >0.5g/t at both endsAS30 1.0 4.92AS31 3.9 2.92AS33 3.0 1.47AS34 2.0 1.21AS34b 2.0 1.19AS37 1.0 2.08 Notes:No top cut has been applied to assay results.Intersection calculation based on a 0.5 g/t cut off grade. Additional surface mapping in the Arzu North vein area has identified new areasof quartz veining and associated alteration. This includes the "Aybor" veinwhich has been traced for approximately 100m before being obscured by ignimbritecover rocks. The Aybor vein is located directly along strike from the Arzu Southvein and has returned a peak grade of 2.5 g/t Au from four initial samplescollected to date. Ahead of commencing the channel sampling programme, Galata obtained allnecessary environmental approvals from the provincial government in Balikesir. Contacts:Ariana Resources plcSteven Poulton, Chief Executive Tel: 01235 511 767s.j.poulton@arianaresources.com Mobile: 0797 408 6712 Bankside ConsultantsMichael Padley / Susan Scott Tel: 020 7367 8888 Editors' note: About KiziltepeThe Kiziltepe prospect is located within a ten-year renewable operating licencethat forms part of the Company's 100% owned 235km2 Sindirgi gold project inBalikesir Province, western Turkey. Kiziltepe lies approximately 100km east ofthe one million ounce vein-hosted Ovacik gold mine and 115km northwest of thefive million ounce Kisladag gold deposit. The prospect hosts over 19km in strike length of gold-silver bearinglow-sulphidation epithermal quartz veins across an area of at least 3km by 1km.Individual veins are exposed for up to 700m and widths vary between 1m and 14m.The main veins trend NW, dip to the northeast and are hosted within Miocene ageandesitic volcanic rocks. The majority of exploration work to date has focused on the Arzu vein, whereresults from drilling by previous owners include intersections of 7.23 g/t over10m and 10.55 g/t over 7.5m. Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE & ASX: NEM; TSX:NMC) retains the right to a royalty of up to 2.5% on future gold production fromKiziltepe. Sampling and Assaying ProceduresAll samples have been prepared by the ALS Chemex preparation facility in Izmirand assayed by fire assay at the ALS Chemex laboratory in Vancouver. Re-assayingof all samples assaying greater than 10 g/t gold has also been completed by ALSChemex. Regular standard, blank and duplicate samples are being used in thesample sequence in line with the Company's quality control procedures. Dr Kerim Sener, BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD, is Ariana's Exploration Director and is aFellow of The Geological Society of London. He is a graduate of the Universityof Southampton in Geology, holds a Master's degree from the Royal School ofMines (Imperial College, London) in Mineral Exploration and a doctorate from theUniversity of Western Australia. He has worked in geological research andmineral consultancy in Southern Africa and the Northern Territory of Australia.He has read and approved the technical disclosure in this regulatoryannouncement. About Ariana ResourcesAriana is a technology-driven exploration company focused on the potentialdiscovery of multi-million ounce epithermal gold-silver and porphyry copper-golddeposits within the Tethyan metallogenic belt of Turkey. The Company has aportfolio of prospective licences covering over 1,000km2, selected on the basisof its advanced in-house remote sensing database. Ariana's broker is AmbrianPartners Limited and Beaumont Cornish Limited is nominated adviser. For further information on Ariana you are invited to visit the Company's websiteat www.arianaresources.com. Ends This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange