Ariana Regulatory News (AAU)

21 Mar 2007 08:37

Ariana Resources PLC21 March 2007 21 March 2007AIM: AAU POSITIVE DRILLING RESULTS FROM THE KINIK GOLD PROSPECT Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the gold exploration companyfocused on Turkey, is pleased to announce the results from the first eight drillholes completed on the Kinik prospect at the Company's 100% owned IvrindiProject in Balikesir province, western Turkey. •Eight drill holes completed along a 750m long gold in soil anomaly •Intersections of 1.41 g/t Au over 6.2m, 4.17 g/t Au over 1.9m and 4.91 g/ t Au over 1.7m •Gold grades up to 10.4g/t Au from channel sampling and 7.6g/t in drilling •Prospect discovered from Ariana's remote-sensing programme A field team from the Company's Turkish operating subsidiary, Galata MadencilikSan. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti. ("Galata"), have supervised the completion of a (HQ size63.5 mm) diamond-core drilling programme on the Kinik prospect. The drillingprogramme was designed to test the channel sampled area and the anomaly definedby a soil geochemical grid reported on earlier. The eight holes reported in thisrelease total 423.30m and were drilled to depths of between 35 and 81 meters andangled between 50 and 75 degrees along a 750 metres section of the gold in soilanomaly. Drill hole collars were located 40-50 metres apart. Ahead of commencing the drilling programme, Galata obtained all necessaryenvironmental and forestry approvals from the provincial government in Balikesirand the State Government in Ankara. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented: "We are encouraged by the results of this initial drilling programme on theKinik prospect which has confirmed the depth continuity of the mineralisationidentified from the surface. The geological setting of the prospect, the unusualstyle of mineralisation encountered and the new data obtained from drilltesting, suggests that additional drilling at this locality is warranted. Ourtarget will be the definition of a near surface, bulk tonnage and low grade goldresource. We are now in the process of securing an RC-drilling rig for thispurpose and we plan to restart work at this prospect during the summer of 2007.This is another very encouraging result from our initial exploration programmeand gives us additional confidence in our target identification procedures. "We are in the process of preparing our first resource statement and we expectto be in a position to announce this in the next quarter." Table 1: Drill hole intersection data from the Kinik prospect drillingprogramme: Hole From To Recovery Apparent Gold (Au (m) (m) (%) Width (m) g/t) KNK-D01-06 10.80 11.80 76 1.00 0.76 KNK-D02-06 4.60 5.60 96 1.00 1.01 28.90 35.10 95 6.20 1.41 KNK-D03-06 8.50 9.40 98 0.90 1.03 11.00 12.90 95 1.90 4.17 27.60 30.80 98 3.20 1.51 32.40 33.90 97 1.50 1.88 34.60 36.50 100 1.90 0.61 KNK-D04-06 25.20 27.30 90 2.10 0.86 KNK-D05-07 10.20 11.20 97 1.00 1.62 13.00 15.00 98 2.00 2.97 27.40 28.40 97 1.00 0.58 KNK-D06-07 Mineralised but values are below cut-off KNK-D07-07 KNK-D08-07 44.00 45.70 100 1.70 4.91 Notes: No top cut has been applied to assay results Intersections based on a 0.5 g/t cut off grade Weighted averages have been calculated for core recovery and gold grades Contacts: Ariana Resources plcMichael Spriggs, Executive Chairman Tel: 07887 998252Kerim Sener, Managing Directorinfo@arianaresources.com Tel: 07709 011954 Bankside ConsultantsMichael Padley / Susan Scott Tel: 020 7367 8888 Beaumont Cornish LimitedRoland Cornish Tel: 020 7628 3396 Editors' note: About the Kinik prospectThe Kinik prospect is located in the Ivrindi gold project, which covers an areaof 90km2 in Balikesir province, western Turkey, and lies 70 km to the northwestof the company's Sindirgi Project. The prospect was identified by the company'sremote sensing program. A 48m long reconnaissance channel sample along aroad-cut within the prospect area determined the potential for significant goldgrades, with high grade zones of 3.2 g/t over 10m, 3.1 g/t over 5m and 1.4 g/tover 13m (using a 0.5 g/t Au cut-off) with a peak grade 10.4 g/t Au. Subsequentrock-chip sampling undertaken by the company at two separate locations 250m and900m east and northeast, respectively, of this channel returned grades above 1 g/t Au. A follow-up systematic surface soil sampling programme was completed inlate 2005. This work identified an extensive (750m by 50m) gold in soilgeochemical anomaly (above 50ppb Au) along the faulted contact of alteredandesitic volcanic rocks and limestone units. The grades encountered in the drilling indicate that the gold mineralisation isassociated with variably sulphidised andesitic rocks in the hanging-wall of asignificant fault. Initial drill-core sampling for gold was not guided by anyparticular feature and most sampling was concentrated in the immediatehanging-wall. The results obtained show that potentially any of the alteredandesite can be mineralised and additional sampling will now be undertaken todetermine the true distribution of gold around the fault. It is possible thatthe widths reported in Table 1 above are underestimating the dimensions of themineralisation at the prospect. Sampling and Assaying Procedures164 HQ size drill-core samples from the drilling programme on the Kinikprospect, ranging from 0.25m to 1.40m in length, were cut in half by a diamondsaw and sent for assay. Of these, 137 samples returned grades of less than 0.5 g/t Au (83.6% of the total), 12 between 0.5-1 g/t Au (7.3% of total), 12 between1-5 g/t Au (7.3% of total) and 3 above 5 g/t Au (1.8% of total), with a peakgrade of 7.59 g/t Au. Sample recovery has averaged 95% in the mineralised zones. All the samples were prepared by the ALS Chemex preparation facility in Izmirand assayed by 30g fire assay at the ALS Chemex laboratory in Romania. Standard,blank and duplicate samples were used in the sample batches in line with theCompany's quality control procedures. Quality control checks have determinedthat all blanks and standards passed and duplicate samples showed excellentcorrelations, with 99% correlation for crushed duplicates and 100% correlationfor pulp duplicates. Laboratory sample preparation, assaying procedures andchain of custody are appropriately controlled. The Company maintains an archiveof half core samples and a photographic record of all cores for futurereference. Dr Kerim Sener, BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD, is Ariana's Managing Director. A graduateof the University of Southampton in Geology, he also holds a Master's degreefrom the Royal School of Mines (Imperial College, London) in Mineral Explorationand a doctorate from the University of Western Australia. He is a Fellow of TheGeological Society of London and has worked in geological research and mineralconsultancy in Southern Africa and the Northern Territory of Australia. He hasread and approved the technical disclosure in this regulatory announcement. About Ariana ResourcesAriana is a dynamic exploration company focused on the discovery of epithermalgold-silver and porphyry copper-gold deposits with multi-million ounce potentialwithin the Tethyan metallogenic belt of Turkey. The Company has a portfolio ofprospective licences covering approximately 1,800km2, selected on the basis ofits advanced in-house databases. 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. Thedrilling programme was focussed on defining gold resources (in compliance withthe JORC code) at the prospects of Kiziltepe and Kepez. Ambrian Partners Limited and King & Shaxson Capital Limited are joint brokers tothe Company and Beaumont Cornish Limited is the Company's 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