Alien Metals Regulatory News (UFO)

25 May 2006 07:04

Arian Silver Corporation25 May 2006 Embargoed until 7am, 25 May 2006 Arian Silver Corporation is admitted to AIM Arian Silver Corporation ('Arian Silver') was admitted to trading on AIM today,and has become the only pure silver play currently listed on AIM. Arian Silverwas formerly called Hard Assets Inc. and changed its name following its mergerwith Arian Silver Corporation Limited, a private company registered in theBritish Virgin Islands. Arian Silver's relocation of registration to the BritishVirgin Islands from Canada, change of name and merger were approved by itsshareholders at an Extraordinary General Meeting yesterday. The Board of ArianSilver now comprises those individuals referred to below. Shares in Arian Silver Corporation (ISIN: VGG0472G1063) will commence trading onAIM today. They will trade under the name Hard Assets Inc. and the symbol 'HAI'on Thursday, 25 May 2006, but will be changed to Arian Silver Corporation andtrade under 'AG.' as of Friday, 26 May 2006. Arian Silver has 12 mineral concessions covering an aggregate area ofapproximately 1,493 hectares. The group has options over seven furtherconcessions and is in negotiations to acquire three others. Arian Silver has aportfolio of silver focused exploration concessions located in the Zacatecasregion of Mexico, the world's largest silver producing country. Many of theconcessions have extensive workings or are former producers, and the directorsbelieve that this reduces the risks and uncertainties associated withgrass-roots exploration. Arian Silver has been carrying out undergroundexploration at its two most advanced projects, Calicanto and San Celso, sincemid-2005, whilst actively investigating further acquisition opportunities. The Calicanto project comprises three concessions which are under option toArian Silver and includes the past productive Nevada-Calicanto epithermal veinsystem. Arian Silver is currently focused on the Calicanto vein system and hasemployed local mining contractors to advance the decline along the vein. Theaverage width of the vein is 1.5 to 2.0m but the vein system (including thequartz stockwork and parallel veins) can exceed 5m. Assay results from veinmaterial returned values of >10,000g/t Ag and 10.90g/t Au over 1.2m. The declineis approximately 4m wide by 4m high and has been advanced some 65 m. Run-of-minematerial from the decline is being processed at a local flotation mill. Resultsfrom a 165 tonne bulk sample returned grades of 393 g/t Ag, 1.42 g/t Au, plusbase metal credits, with 60% recovery for gold and 73% recovery for silver. A2,100m drilling programme is planned for 2006, subject to the Company raisingadditional funds. At San Celso, Arian Silver has accessed and re-laddered two mine shafts to over100m depth and has been undertaking underground sampling, surveying and mapping.Historic mining appears to have been focused on high grade shoots near tosurface, however, economic mineralisation is found in structures in the hangingwall and footwall of the main veins and in places can be up to 6m wide. Assayresults from these structures have returned values assaying 3.5 g/t Au and 2,683g/t Ag over 1m. The potential of the San Celso property is thought to lie in theextension of these veins along strike and to depth. It is also possible thatthere are other mineralised structures on the property, either partiallyexploited by the San Celso old mine workings or undiscovered. Jim Williams, Arian Silver Chief Executive, commented: "The Merger with Hard Assets has enabled us to achieve our goal of bringingArian to AIM as well as providing us with a larger international investor base.Access to international capital markets should allow us to expedite ourexploration and development programmes at our Calicanto and San Celsoproperties, where initial results have been very encouraging. "In addition, we are in negotiations to secure tailings projects which have thepotential to generate near-term cash-flow. Our initial target is to have inexcess of 50 million JORC-compliant ounces of silver. We anticipate continuingstrength in the market for silver and aim to establish Arian Silver Corporationas the prime silver play on the UK market." Canaccord Adams Limited acts as Nominated Adviser and Broker to Arian SilverCorporation. Mr Jim Williams, Eur Ing, MSc, DIC, FIMMM, CEng, CGeol, and Chief ExecutiveOfficer of Arian Silver Corporation is a "competent person" as defined in theAIM guidelines for mining companies. This press release has been prepared underMr Williams' supervision. Mr Williams has verified the data disclosed in thispress release including the sampling, analytical and test data underlying theinformation. Directors On Admission, the Board of Arian Silver will comprise 3 executive and 3non-executive directors: Anthony (Tony) Joseph Williams, Chairman and Director, age 55 Tony Williams, Chairman, is the founder and Chairman of the Dragon group, aprivately owned group of companies with interests in international miningfinance and project management. Prior to founding the Dragon group in 1995, hespent nine years in investment banking where he co-founded and led the NaturalResource Group at Yorkton Securities. He is a director or chairman of severalpublic (AIM, TSX) exploration and mining companies developing precious metal,base metal and diamond deposits worldwide. Earlier in his career he held seniorappointments in the mining industry and specialized in mineral valuation andacquisitions. He qualified as a mining geologist in 1972 from the Royal Schoolof Mines in London and is a member of several professional mining industryassociations. James (Jim) Thomas Williams, Chief Executive Officer and Director, age 45 Jim Williams is an exploration and mining geologist with more than 20 years'experience worldwide in a variety of minerals. For the past three years he hasbeen evaluating silver (and gold) projects in Mexico and is very familiar withepithermal, skarn and VMS systems. He is a Fellow of the UK IMMM, a CharteredEngineer (CEng) and a Chartered Geologist (CGeol). He is also a EuropeanEngineer (Eur. Ing.) and a European Geologist (Euro. Geol). In addition, he isinvolved with project financing for the Arian Group and is conversant with theUS, Canadian and UK financial markets and is a director or has been a directorof a number of mineral and mining companies. He holds B.Sc., M.Sc. and D.I.C.(Diploma of Imperial College) degrees in geology and exploration. James Seymour Cable, Finance Director, age 53 James Cable is a Finance Director with extensive experience at board level inquoted and private companies. He has significant international and commercialexperience gained in the Middle East, Africa, the Far East and Europe in severalbusiness sectors including oil and construction. He has been a CharteredAccountant for 27 years. David William Cohen, Director, age 43 David Cohen has over 20 years' experience in operations, project development andfinancing of the mining industry. Formerly with Anglo American Corporation andFluor Daniel Corp., he has worked in South Africa and internationally in themining and oil and gas sectors and has initiated and closed major resourceacquisitions and equity raisings. He is the President and CEO of Northern OrionResources Inc., a Toronto and AMEX listed intermediate copper and gold producerin South America and a director of Eastern Platinum Limited as well as a numberof resource companies. Thomas (Tom) Anstey Bailey, Director, age 63 Tom Bailey qualified as a solicitor in 1975 and worked as an in-house lawyer fora number of years with Citibank and Chase Manhattan before returning to privatepractice, to establish a law firm. He was the senior partner of his firmspecializing in commercial law. He has for a number of years carried outconsultancy work for various companies and now acts as a consultant to theDragon group. John Merfyn Roberts, Director, age 56 Merfyn Roberts holds a B.Sc. Honours Geology from Liverpool University and aM.Sc. in Geochemistry from Oxford University. He started his career in 1976working as a geologist in the UK and in North America. He is also a CharteredAccountant (England and Wales) having qualified in 1980. He has gained extensiveexperience in finance, particularly with respect to the natural resource sector.This experience includes investment analysis, managing specialty investmentproducts, the establishment and management of an equity fund specialising innatural resources, and serving as the investment director for a securities firmand an investment fund. He is also a director of a number of TSX and AIM listedcompanies including Rambler Metals and Mining plc and Eastern Platinum Limited. Further details: Alexandra HarrisonArian Silveraharrison@ariansilver.com+44 (0)20 7529 7511 Jonathan GollinsFinancial Villagejg@financialvillage.co.uk+44 (0)20 7872 5442 Keith SchaeferVanguard Solutionsir@vanguardsolutions.caP: 604-608-0824800: 866-801-0779 Ryan GaffneyCanaccord Adams+44 (0)20 7518 2777 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange