Ariana Regulatory News (AAU)

5 Sep 2007 07:00

Ariana Resources PLC05 September 2007 5 September 2007AIM / PLUS Markets: AAU ARIANA RESOURCES plc DRILLING TO COMMENCE AT KIZILTEPE PROSPECT Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the gold exploration companyfocused on Turkey, is pleased to announce the commencement of a 6,000m ReverseCirculation drilling programme at its three advanced projects in western Turkey.The Kiziltepe prospect, within the Company's 100% owned Sindirgi gold project,will be the primary focus of this drilling programme. • Phase Two resource definition drilling at Kiziltepe to commence next week • Objective to upgrade and increase the existing 135,000 oz gold-silver resource • Drill-rig mobilised and drilling commenced at the Ivrindi Project (Kinik prospect) Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented: "The additional drilling on our advanced projects and particularly at theKiziltepe prospect is an important advance for the Company. The drilling atKiziltepe is designed to add resources from several veins that are not includedin the existing resource, and to upgrade the resource at Arzu South." "Our decision to focus on the Kiziltepe prospect is based on the encouraging,though small, initial resource defined by our 2006 drilling programme whichidentified 135,000 oz gold equivalent on only 5% of the veins at the prospect.Positive metallurgical results received in August have further enhanced ourconfidence in the economic potential of the prospect." "Approximately 4,000m of drilling will be focussed on veins in proximity to ArzuSouth, with the principal objectives of increasing the resource, and ofproviding the basis for a scoping study of the economics of a small, multi-pitoperation at Kiziltepe." About the Kiziltepe Prospect The Kiziltepe prospect lies within a 36 km2 ten-year renewable operating licencewhich forms part of the Company's 100% owned 235 km2 Sindirgi gold project inBalikesir Province, western Turkey. The project area lies approximately 100kmeast of the one million ounce Ovacik gold mine and 115km northwest of the fivemillion ounce Kisladag gold mine. Kiziltepe hosts at least 20km 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 750m and widths vary between 1m and 14m.The main veins trend NW, dip to the northeast and are hosted within Miocene agedacitic volcanic rocks. The majority of exploration work to date at Kiziltepehas focused on the Arzu vein system, which represents approximately 5% of themapped veins on the prospect. Previous intersections on Arzu include 7.5 g/t Auover 10.5m and 13.1 g/t Au over 6.6m. Independent technical consultants SRK (UK) Limited have prepared aJORC-compliant mineral resource estimate of 135,000 ounces gold equivalent onthe Arzu vein, based on cut-off grade of 3 g/t Au and a modelled depth limit ofapproximately 125m (see News Release dated 10/05/06). The calculated grade ofthe mineralisation on Arzu is about 6 g/t of gold and 2 g/t of gold equivalentof silver. Ariana acquired the Kiziltepe prospect as part of the Sindirgi Gold Project fromNewmont Altin Madencilik Limited Sirketi, a subsidiary of Newmont MiningCorporation (NYSE & ASX: NEM; TSX: NMC) ("Newmont") in January 2005. Newmontretains a Net Smelter Return royalty of up to 2.5% on future gold productionfrom the Sindirgi Project. Drilling Programme Approximately 40 drill holes are planned at the Kiziltepe prospect to depths ofup to 200m. The programme has been designed to test systematically sevengold-silver bearing epithermal quartz veins, namely, Arzu South, Arzu North,Arzu Far North, Ceylan, Banu, Vein 2 and Vein 4. The objective of the currentprogramme is to upgrade the initial JORC resource (135,000 oz gold equivalent)for the Arzu vein system and to demonstrate the resource potential on otherveins. The drilling program will be managed by Ariana's exploration team under thesupervision of Mr. Muhannad Arar (Advanced Projects Manager). Drilling on theKiziltepe prospect is expected to be completed by November 2007, although someflexibility has been built in to the programme to allow for rapid follow-up. Sampling and Assaying Procedures The samples will be transported to the Company's storage facility in the localtown of Sindirgi. Split samples are prepared and sent to the ALS Chemexpreparation facility in Izmir and assayed by 30g fire assay at the ALS Chemexlaboratory in Romania. Standard, blank and duplicate samples were used in thesample batches in line with the Company's quality control procedures. Contacts:Ariana Resources plcMichael Spriggs, ChairmanKerim Sener, Managing Director Tel: 0207 407 3616 Beaumont Cornish Limited Roland Cornish Tel: 0207 628 3396 Bankside ConsultantsMichael Padley / Louise Davis Tel: 0207 367 8888 Editors' note:About Ariana Resources Ariana is a dynamic exploration company focused on the discovery and developmentof epithermal gold-silver and porphyry copper-gold deposits with multi-millionounce potential within the Tethyan metallogenic belt of Turkey. The Company hasa portfolio of prospective licences covering 1,820km2, selected on the basis ofits advanced in-house remote sensing database. The Company's flagship asset is the 235km2 Sindirgi Gold Project, which targetsa series of prospects, within a prolific mineralised district in western Turkey.The project hosts over 45km of gold-silver bearing epithermal quartz veins. City Capital Corporation Limited and King & Shaxson Capital Limited are jointbrokers to the Company and Beaumont Cornish Limited is the Company's nominatedadviser. 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