Ariana Regulatory News (AAU)

8 Jan 2007 07:01

Ariana Resources PLC08 January 2007 08 January 2007AIM: AAU FURTHER POSITIVE DRILLING RESULTS FROM KIZILTEPE GOLD PROSPECT Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the gold exploration companyfocused on Turkey, announces the results from the first three drill holescompleted on the Banu Vein, at the Kiziltepe gold prospect. This represents thefifth set of positive results on different veins within the Kiziltepe project,that forms part of the Company's 100% owned 235km2 Sindirgi gold project inwestern Turkey. •Intersections of 2.10 g/t Au over 4.8m, 2.09 g/t Au over 2.10m and 4.62g/t Au over 2.0m •Significant silver grades from 64 g/t Ag to 159 g/t Ag boost gold equivalent grades •Results confirm that historical drilling was not orientated appropriately and that further drilling on this vein is warranted •Follow up drilling underway on the Arzu South vein for resource estimation A field team from the Company's Turkish operating subsidiary, Galata MadencilikSan. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti., supervised the completion of an initial three-hole HQsize (63.5 mm wide) diamond core drilling programme on the Banu Vein. The holesD15, D16 and D17 reported in this release totalled 264.30m. They were drilled todepths of between 70 and 100 metres and angled at 60 degrees along a 100msection of vein strike length. Collars were located at approximately 50 metrespaced centres. Quartz veins, other mineralised structures and stockwork werelocated in all three holes drilled in this exploratory programme. Selectedintersections are given in Table 1 below. Steven Poulton, Chief Executive, commented: "We are encouraged by the results of this preliminary drilling on the Banu Vein,which show robust gold and silver grades. The combined gold equivalentintersections of 3.38 g/t Au over 4.8m, 4.33 g/t Au over 2.10m and 7.08 g/t Auover 2.0m provide further assurance in the continuity of the mineralised systemand indicate that additional drilling is warranted. The results also support ourgrowing confidence in the potential of the Kiziltepe prospect as a whole. We arepleased with the results from the first two veins we have drilled and, out ofthe 15 major veins so far identified at the Kiziltepe prospect, there have beenvery encouraging results from five of them." "Drilling at the Kiziltepe prospect is continuing. A series of deeper holes iscurrently testing the potential plunge of a significant high grade zone, asidentified by our previously announced drilling results. Data from these holeswill be included in a future resource estimate on the Arzu South Vein. We lookforward to updating our shareholders when further results become available. 2006was a year of considerable progress for the Company, with additional licenceareas acquired, several promising new prospects identified, and very positiveresults from the initial drilling and sampling programmes at the Kiziltepe andKepez prospects." Table 1: Drill hole intersection data from the Banu Vein in addition to historicdata: Hole From To Recovery Apparent Gold Silver Au + Au equiv. (m) (m) (%) Width(m) (Au g/t) (Ag g/t) (g/t) KTP-D15-06 54.1 54.5 88 0.4 0.58 21.80 1.02and 61.3 66.1 92 4.8 2.10 63.82 3.38KTP-D16-06 40.4 42.5 89 2.1 2.09 112.10 4.33KTP-D17-06 27.7 29.7 87 2.0 4.62 159.09 7.80RSC05* 42.3 45.0 n/a 2.7 4.89 80.00 6.49 Notes: No top cut has been applied to assay resultsIntersections based on a 0.5 g/t cut off gradeWeighted averages have been calculated for core recovery and gold/silver grades* RSC05 denotes the historical drill hole undertaken by Tuprag in 1992 - recovery was not reportedAu + Au equiv. g/t is the sum of the gold grade and the gold equivalent grade of silver based on a gold/silver price ratio of approximately 1:50 Banu Vein The preliminary drilling programme on the Banu Vein was designed to demonstratethat drilling by previous operators failed to intersect the main vein. Surfacetrenching undertaken by Ariana indicated that the vein dips to the south-west,requiring the drill holes reported in this release to be oriented toward thenorth-east. The successful intersection of the vein in all three new drill holesconfirms that four historical holes, which were drilled towards the south-west,were located in the footwall of, and sub-parallel to, the mineralised structure.In addition, the new holes were designed to test a section of vein that had notbeen sampled during the rock-saw programme, but which provided encouraging goldgrades from rock-chip sampling and also has the greatest density of historicsurface workings along strike. The Banu Vein (strike length 750m) has the most uniform grade at surface of allthe veins at the Kiziltepe prospect. For 550m of surface sampled strike length,the vein carries a fairly consistent grade of approximately 2-3 g/t Au. Evidencefrom both the new and historical drilling indicates an improvement in grade atdepth and along strike to the southeast. A hole drilled by previous operators in1992 (RSC05) in the south-eastern part of the vein provided an intersection of4.89 g/t Au and 80 g/t Ag over 2.7m. The latest drilling by Ariana has confirmedthe improvement in the gold and silver grade. Follow-up drilling in thissouth-eastern section of the Banu Vein is now warranted to confirm its potentialat depth. 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 the Kiziltepe prospectThe 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 of the one million ounce vein-hostedOvacik gold mine and 115km northwest of the five million ounce Kisladag goldmine. 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 750m and widths vary between 1m and 14m.The main veins trend northwest, dip to the northeast and are hosted withinMiocene age dacitic volcanic rocks. Ariana acquired the Sindirgi Gold Project from Newmont Mining Corporation(NYSE & ASX: NEM; TSX: NMC) in March 2005. Newmont retains the right to aroyalty of up to 2.5% on future gold production from the Sindirgi gold project. Ahead of commencing the drilling programme, Galata obtained all necessaryenvironmental and forestry approvals from the provincial government in Balikesirand the State Government in Ankara. Sampling and Assaying ProceduresTo date 73 HQ size drill-core samples from the drilling programme on the BanuVein, ranging from 0.18m to 1.07m in length have been cut in half by a diamondsaw and sent for assay. Of these, 61 samples have returned grades of less than0.5 g/t Au (83.5% of the total), 4 samples between 0.5-1 g/t Au (5.5% of total),7 between 1-5 g/t Au (9.6% of total) and 1 sample above 5 g/t Au (1.4% oftotal), grading 7.32 g/t Au. Sample recovery has averaged 89% in the mineralisedzones. All samples have been prepared by the ALS Chemex preparation facility in Izmirand assayed by 30g fire assay at the ALS Chemex laboratory in Romania. Routinere-assaying of all samples assaying greater than 10 g/t Au (no samples) and100g/t Ag (6 samples) has also been completed by ALS Chemex. Standard, blank andduplicate samples are being used in the sample batches in line with theCompany's quality control procedures. Quality control checks have determinedthat all blanks and standards have passed and duplicate samples have shownexcellent correlations, with 99.9% correlation for crushed duplicates and 97.6%correlation for pulp duplicates. Laboratory sample preparation, assayingprocedures and chain of custody are appropriately controlled. The Companymaintains an archive of half core samples and a photographic record of all coresfor future reference. 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 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 1,755km2, selected on the basis of its advancedin-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. Adrilling programme is currently focussed on defining gold resources (incompliance with the 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