Ariana Regulatory News (AAU)

30 Nov 2005 08:00

Ariana Resources PLC30 November 2005 30 November 2005AIM: AAU EXPLORATION UPDATE Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the gold exploration companyfocused exclusively on Turkey announces a highly encouraging reconnaissancesample result from its Kepez prospect, the granting of two new prospectivelicences areas in north east Turkey and the commencement of exploration in theCanakkale province. * 19.66 g/t Au reconnaissance sample at Kepez prospect * Two new licences in north east Turkey * Exploration commences in Canakkale province Kepez prospectA single reconnaissance sample taken by Ariana at its 100% owned Kepez prospect,which is part of the Sindirgi project, in western Turkey has assayed at 19.66 g/t Au. The sample was collected adjacent to an area of historic workings,directly down slope from Kepez vein-1, which has been mapped up to 25 metreswide and 450 metres long. Exploration by previous owners includes a channelsample of 9.5 g/t Au over 5m. Mapping and channel sampling across Kepez vein-1is now planned. The Sindirgi project includes the Kiziltepe vein prospect, onwhich positive channel sample results were recently announced and exploration isongoing. New LicencesAriana has been granted two new exploration licences covering an area of 2,834hectares in the Pontide volcanic arc in Artvin Province, north eastern Turkey.The licence areas were selected following target definition from the ongoinganalysis of the Company's proprietary in-house GIS data platform, which istargeting the discovery of bulk tonnage high-sulphidation style gold andcopper-gold systems as well as low-sulphidation vein hosted gold-silverdeposits. The new licences will be the subject of a reconnaissance explorationprogramme in 2006. Reconnaissance explorationAriana has also commenced exploration over two 100% owned contiguous licences,covering an area of 5,672 hectares in Canakkale Province, north western Turkey.The licences were selected based on the identification of strong anomalies fromthe Company's Landsat study. Steven Poulton, Chief Executive, commented:"Ariana continues to maintain its very strong momentum, with explorationunderway in several areas and new licences being acquired on priority targets.The 19.66 g/t Au reconnaissance sample at Kepez reinforces the encouragingrecent channel sampling results at the Kiziltepe prospect and testifies to thewider potential for the Sindirgi project to host a significant gold system. Theinitiation of exploration over new licence areas demonstrates our commitment tothe systematic and rapid turnover of targets generated by our in-house remotesensing programme." 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 KepezThe Kepez prospect is located within a ten-year renewable operating licence thatforms part of the Company's 100% owned 235km2 Sindirgi gold project in BalikesirProvince, western Turkey. The prospect lies approximately 6.5 km north east andwithin the same licence as the Company's Kiziltepe prospect. Kepez hostsapproximately 8 km in strike length of gold-silver bearing low-sulphidationepithermal quartz veins and hydrothermal vein breccia, across an area of atleast 2 km by 1 km. The majority of exploration work to date has focused onKepez vein-1, where channel sampling by previous owners include an intersectionof 9.5 g/t over 5m across a silicified zone and a best drill intersect of 6.9 g/t Au over 4m. Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE & ASX: NEM; TSX: NMC) retains theright to a royalty of up to 2.5% on future gold production from the Sindirgiproject. Dr Kerim Sener, BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD, is Ariana's Exploration Director. Agraduate of the University of Southampton in Geology, he also holds a Master'sdegree from the Royal School of Mines (Imperial College, London) in MineralExploration and a doctorate from the University of Western Australia. He is aFellow of The Geological Society of London and has worked in geological researchand mineral consultancy in Southern Africa and the Northern Territory ofAustralia. He has read and approved the technical disclosure in this regulatoryannouncement. About Ariana ResourcesAriana is a technology-driven exploration company focused on the discovery ofmulti-million ounce potential 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 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