Ariana Regulatory News (AAU)

20 Nov 2006 08:38

Ariana Resources PLC20 November 2006 ARIANA RESOURCES PLC 20 November 2006 AIM: AAU SIGNIFICANT INITIAL DRILLING RESULTS FROM KIZILTEPE GOLD PROSPECT Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the gold exploration companyfocused exclusively on Turkey, announces significant results from the firsteighteen drill holes completed on the Kiziltepe gold prospect at the Company's100% owned Sindirgi Project in Balikesir province, western Turkey. •Intersections of 13.09 g/t Au over 6.6m, 7.49 g/t Au over 10.5m and 6.52 g/t Au over 6.3m •Results confirm previous work and identify lateral and down-dip vein extensions •Eighteen drill holes completed along 530m of vein strike length •Drilling ongoing at the Kiziltepe and Kepez prospects Since August 2006 a field team from the Company's Turkish operating subsidiary,Galata Madencilik San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti., has supervised the completion of adiamond core drilling programme on the Arzu South vein. Assay results for thefirst eighteen HQ size (63.5mm diameter) holes, totalling 1,391 drilled metres,have been received. The holes were drilled to depths of between 50 and 105metres and angled at between 50 and 75 degrees along a 530m section of veinstrike length. Quartz veins, other mineralised structures and stockwork werelocated in all but one of the first eighteen drill holes, the results of whichare detailed below. Steven Poulton, Chief Executive, commented: "We are extremely pleased with these initial results from the drilling programmeon the Arzu South vein, which confirm the drilled widths and grades reported byprevious operators and our systematic channel sampling programme. Follow updrilling will be required to test the depth continuity of intersections such as13.09 g/t Au (& 121.67 g/t Ag) over 6.6m and 7.49 g/t Au (& 96.96 g/t Ag) over10.5m. These excellent results underpin our confidence in the wider andsignificant potential of the Kiziltepe prospect, which hosts over 19km of mappedgold-silver bearing epithermal quartz veins. "Geological modelling and resource estimation will now be undertaken on the ArzuSouth vein and if merited this will be extended to a number of other, less wellexposed or otherwise untested, vein targets at the Kiziltepe prospect which arecurrently being drilled. A second rig is now also drilling 5km to the north eastat the Kepez vein prospect. We look forward to updating our shareholders whenfurther results from these programmes become available." Arzu South Vein The Arzu South vein has been drilled by previous operators. However, drill corerecoveries were deemed too low for an independent resource estimate to becalculated in accordance with the JORC code. The Company's current drillingprogramme has been designed to confirm and in-fill the historic data, to extendthe drilled strike length of the vein and to test the continuity at depth of theresults from the Company's rock-saw channel sampling programme. This data willbe included in a mineral resource estimate to be prepared by an independenttechnical consultant in accordance with the JORC code. Arzu South Vein: Northern Section Four holes were completed by previous operators on the 230m long NorthernSection of the Arzu South vein: the most significant intersection being 3.9 g/tAu over 14m. Seven rock saw channels undertaken by the Company in 2005, atapproximately 12.5m spaced centres, returned a previously reported bestintersection of 2.8 g/t Au over 1.5m. The Company has completed and now reports on six diamond drill holes on theNorthern Section totalling 484m drilled, as follows: D01, D02, D03a, D03b, D04aand D04b. Note holes labelled "a" and "b" (e.g. D03a and D03b) were drilled fromthe same collar location, with the 'b' hole drilled at a steeper (approximately20degrees) inclination to intersect the interpreted vein location between 20 and40m deeper. Drill collars on the Northern Section were spaced at approximately50m centres, except in the far north west where the spacing was reduced to 25mbetween drill sections D01 and D02. Drill hole D01 was drilled to test thenorthern extension of the vein which, due to ignimbrite cover, does not crop outat surface. The results from the Company's drill programme confirm the northern extension ofthe vein with best intersections of 6.18 g/t Au (& 61.53 g/t Ag) over 6.7m and5.95 g/t Au (& 155.51 g/t Ag) over 6.4m. Selected intersections for each holeare reported in Table 1 below. Table 1. Selected drill intersections from the Northern Section on the ArzuSouth Vein Hole From To (m) Recovery Apparent Gold (Au Silver (m) (%) Width (m) g/t) (Ag g/t) KTP-D01-06 42.3 43.2 67 0.9 2.22 16.00 and 65.2 66.2 97 1.0 4.84 11.70 KTP-D02-06 50.0 56.0 86 6.0 2.77 19.94 and 63.8 68.8 100 5.0 2.59 80.69 KTP-D03a-06 51.5 58.1 91 6.7 6.18 61.53 KTP-D03b-06 66.0 71.5 71 5.5 1.67 67.17 KTP-D04a-06 42.6 49.0 78 6.4 5.95 155.51 and 50.0 57.2 67 7.2 2.53 102.88 KTP-D04b-06 Vein not intersected 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/silver grades Selected better intersects highlighted in bold text Arzu South Vein: Central Section Seven drill holes were completed by previous operators on the 120m long Centralsection of the Arzu South vein with best intersections as follows (from north tosouth): 4.8 g/t Au over 1.3m, 10.6 g/t Au over 7.5m, 3.7 g/t Au over 11.1m, 10.2g/t Au over 5.7m and 7.2 g/t Au over 10m. Rock saw channel sampling undertaken by the Company in 2005 at approximately12.5m spaced centres on the Central Section of the Arzu South vein gave thepreviously reported selected intersections (from north to south): 4.2 g/t Auover 4.5m, 3.4 g/t Au over 6.8m, 5.4 g/t Au over 4m, 6.3 g/t Au over 13.5m, 4.0g/t Au over 4.5m, 8.1 g/t Au over 1.8m and 3.4 g/t Au over 2.5m. The Company has completed and now reports on seven diamond drill holes on theCentral Section totalling 549m drilled as follows: D05, D06a, D06b, D07a, D07b,D08a and D08b. Drill collars were spaced at approximately 20m centres. With best intersections of 7.49 g/t Au (& 96.9 g/t Ag) over 10.5m and 13.09 g/tAu (& 121.67 g/t Ag) over 6.6m, the results from the Company's drillingprogramme have broadly confirmed the grades and thickness as reported byprevious operators. When taken with the Company's rock saw channel samplingdata, the results also indicate that the vein pinches and swells along strikeand with depth. Selected mineralised intersections for each hole on the CentralSection are reported in Table 2 below. Table 2. Selected drill intersections from the Central Section on the Arzu SouthVein Hole From To (m) Recovery Apparent Gold (Au Silver (m) (%) Width (m) g/t) (Ag g/t) KTP-D05-06 47.9 51.8 81 4.0 8.28 182.35 KTP-D06a-06 40.4 43.4 62 3.0 3.09 76.07 KTP-D06b-06 65.4 67.2 83 1.8 3.79 48.87 KTP-D07a-06 41.3 51.8 89 10.5 7.49 96.96 KTP-D07b-06 81.0 95.5 93 14.5 2.25 31.29 KTP-D08a-06 20.0 22.9 87 2.9 9.79 110.31 KTP-D08b-06 56.0 62.6 84 6.6 13.09 121.67 and 72.5 78.7 79 6.2 5.82 83.47 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/ silver grades Selected better intersects highlighted in bold text Arzu South Vein: Southern Section Four holes were completed by previous operators on the 180m long Southernsection of the Arzu South vein with a best intersection of 9.4 g/t Au over 3.7m.Nine rock saw channels undertaken by the Company in 2005 at approximately 12.5mspaced centres gave the previously reported best intersections (from north tosouth) of 3.4 g/t Au over 2.5m, 3.5 g/t Au over 2.6m, 9.9 g/t Au over 1m and 2.9g/t Au over 3.9m. The Company has completed and now reports on five holes for a total of 358mdrilled on the Southern Section as follows: D09a, D09b, D10a, D10b and D11.Drill collars were located at 50m spaced centres. The results from the Company's drill programme confirm the southern extension ofthe vein with best intersections of 6.52 g/t Au (& 110.95 g/t Ag) over 6.3m and8.87 g/t Au (& 245 g/t Ag) over 4.0m. Selected mineralised intersections foreach hole on the Southern Section are reported in Table 3 below. Table 3. Selected drill intersections from the Southern Section on the ArzuSouth Vein Hole From To (m) Recovery Apparent Gold (Au Silver (Ag (m) (%) Width (m) g/t) g/t) KTP-D09a-06 34.0 35.9 75 1.9 2.21 55.31 KTP-D09b-06 Hole being re-assayed KTP-D10a-06 32.6 38.9 88 6.3 6.52 110.95 and 48.0 48.8 90 0.8 2.26 23.50 KTP-D10b-06 11.0 12.0 93 1.0 2.83 2.30 and 53.8 55.7 91 1.9 15.59 225.84 and 78.3 78.7 95 0.4 2.61 65.40 KTP-D11-06 38.5 42.5 78 4.0 8.87 245.25 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/ silver grades Selected better intersects highlighted in bold text Contacts: Ariana Resources plc Steven Poulton, Chief Executive Tel: 01235 511 767s.j.poulton@arianaresources.cominfo@arianaresources.com Mobile: 0797 408 6712 Bankside Consultants Michael Padley / Susan Scott Tel: 020 7367 8888 Editors' note: About the Kiziltepe prospect The 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 700m 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 a royalty ofup 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 Procedures To date 452 HQ size drill-core samples from the drilling programme on the ArzuSouth vein, ranging from 0.15m to 1m in length, have been cut in half by adiamond saw and sent for assay. Of these, 295 samples have returned grades ofless than 0.5 g/t Au (65.3% of the total), 49 samples between 0.5-1 g/t Au(10.8% of total), 67 between 1-5 g/t Au (14.8% of total) and 41 samples above 5g/t Au (9.1% of total), with a peak grade of 26 g/t Au. Sample recovery hasaveraged approximately 85% in the mineralised zones, which is a significantimprovement on drill core recovery recorded by previous operators. All the samples have been prepared by the ALS Chemex preparation facility inIzmir and assayed by 30g fire assay at the ALS Chemex laboratory in Romania.Routine re-assaying of all samples assaying greater than 10 g/t Au (27 samples)and 100 g/t Ag (55 samples) has also been completed by ALS Chemex. Standard,blank and duplicate samples are being used in the sample batches in line withthe Company's quality control procedures. Quality control checks have determinedthat all blanks and standards (except for the batch corresponding toKTP-D09b-06, which is being re-assayed) have passed and duplicate samples haveshown excellent correlations indicating that there are no problems caused bycoarse gold with 98.5% correlation for crushed duplicates and 98.7% 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 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 Resources Ariana 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. Atwo rig drilling programme is currently focussed on defining 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