Ariana Regulatory News (AAU)

11 May 2006 08:56

Ariana Resources PLC11 May 2006 11 May 2006AIM: AAUARIANA RESOURCES PLC PRIVATE PLACEMENT DRILLING TO START AT SINDIRGI GOLD PROJECT Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the gold exploration companyfocused exclusively on Turkey, announces the conditional placing of 15,384,617new Ordinary Shares of 1p each with certain institutional and private investors("the Placing") at a price of 13 pence per share, raising £2,000,000 beforeexpenses. The net proceeds of the Placing will be used to accelerate explorationwith a drilling programme at the Sindirgi gold project in western Turkey, fromwhere the Company has announced a number of encouraging gold discoveries. * Private Placement raising £2 million with strong institutional support * Resource definition drilling programme to be undertaken at Sindirgi gold project Steven Poulton, Chief Executive, commented: "The response to our fundraising was excellent, with significant supportreceived from both existing and new institutional investors. With more thanadequate funding in place a drilling programme will be undertaken at theCompany's 100% owned Sindirgi gold project in western Turkey. The projectexhibits many hallmarks of a one million ounce potential gold system, with over45km of mapped gold-silver bearing epithermal quartz veins, as well as numerousrecently identified gold bearing silicified bodies and wide stockworks acrossits 224km2 area. Over the next twelve months, the Company plans to drill theKiziltepe and Kepez prospect areas, these being the two most advanced prospectsout of the five defined to date. In addition, a systematic exploration campaignwill be undertaken across additional prospects at Sindirgi where little or noexploration has been undertaken to date. "This development marks a significant step change in Ariana's growth profile asthe Company advances towards a defined resource base. We look forward to keepingshareholders advised of the Company's progress". Certain Directors of the Company intend to participate in the Placing followingthe announcement of the Company's final results, on the same terms as outlinedabove. The Placing is conditional upon admission to trading on AIM of the newOrdinary Shares. Application will be made for the admission of the new OrdinaryShares to trading on AIM and it is expected that admission will occur anddealings will commence in the new Ordinary Shares on Friday 19 May 2006. The newOrdinary Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing OrdinaryShares which are currently traded on AIM. Following admission of these sharesthere will be a total of 46,851,482 Ordinary Shares in issue. Contacts: Ariana Resources plcSteven Poulton, Chief Executive Tel: 01235 511 767s.j.poulton@arianaresources.cominfo@arianaresources.com Mobile: 0797 408 6712 Bankside ConsultantsMichael Padley / Susan Scott Tel: 020 7367 8888 About Ariana Resources Ariana 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 approximately 1,000km2, selected onthe basis of its advanced in-house remote sensing database. Ariana's broker isAmbrian Partners Limited and Beaumont Cornish Limited is the Company's nominatedadviser. For further information on Ariana you are invited to visit theCompany's website at www.arianaresources.com. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange