The campaign will test new targets identified adjacent to, below and outside the current initial resource estimate for the Calandria Sur deposit as well as two outlier targets at the Nido Este and Pichones prospects.

According to the company, the information from this drilling programme will be “fundamental in the design of a more extensive drill campaign to be carried out in the second half of the year.

“This next campaign follows very encouraging target definition work over the last four months which has defined a mix of both high grade and bulk tonnage style targets,” said chairman of Mariana John Horsburgh.

The Las Calandrias project is estimated to have a preliminary resource of 519,000 ounces of gold equivalent.

The company had previously told investors that the re-sampling of drill holes at Calandria Sur indicated expansion potential with the company awaiting results from another 25 holes.

Drill target definition, ground magnetics, trenching and rock chip sampling are nearing completion at the deposit.

During the first quarter of the year, Mariana was focused on defining drill targets on both projects, where diamond drilling is scheduled for May and June.

At Las Calandrias, re-sampling of drill holes at Calandria Sur has indicated expansion potential with the company awaiting results from another 25 holes. Drill target definition, ground magnetics, trenching, rock chip sampling nearing completion at the deposit.

Meanwhile, geophysical data, sampling and trenching have indicated high grade targets at Aguila-Picadero.

“This quarter, Mariana’s exploration team is to be highly commended on breakthroughs at Las Calandrias and positive target definition work at Aguila-Picadero, both of which have significant value-adding potential,” said chairman of Mariana John Horsburgh.

Elsewhere, the company completed the acquisition of IAMGOLD’s 30 percent stake in the the Sierra Blanca gold-silver project, where the 2011 drilling programme opened up new targets at Vetarron and Lucila-Trafwe-Chala.

On the financial front, Mariana has reduced its losses to £1.04 million from £1.14 million a year earlier and had £4.6 million in the bank at the end of March.

Horsburgh has purchased 500,000 shares in Mariana worth £36,250 to take his shareholding to 3.99 million shares, representing a 1.73 percent stake in the company.

The purchase price of 7.25 pence represents a premium of 3.5 percent to Tuesday’s closing price of seven pence per share.

This morning, shares in Mariana climbed two percent to 7.13 pence, giving the company a market cap of £16.45 million.

Horsburgh bought the shares on Tuesday, the same day when Mariana said it had found potentially more gold and silver on its Las Calandrias prospect in Argentina.

Mariana said it re-sampled 15 of 40 holes and discovered new zones of vein/stockwork gold-silver mineralisation in silicified volcaniclastics.

The mineralisation extends laterally and below the NI 43-101 compliant initial resource of 441,000 gold/silver ounces at the rhyolite-hosted bulk tonnage Calandria Sur prospect, it added.

Today, Fox-Davies said it expects these sampling results to be included in any upcoming resource modelling along with the Phase IV drilling, which should serve to increase the ounces of the deposit.

The broker decided to repeat its 'buy' recommendation on the stock with a punchy target price of 22 pence per share.

Mariana re-sampled 15 of 40 holes and discovered new zones of vein/stockwork gold-silver mineralisation in silicified volcaniclastics.

The mineralisation extends laterally and below the NI 43-101 compliant initial resource of 441,000 gold/silver ounces at the rhyolite-hosted bulk tonnage Calandria Sur prospect, it added.

These holes were previously considered low quality. The best gold intersections included 52m @ 0.5 g/t Au from 8m, 7m @ 0.9 g/t Au from 17m and 8m @ 1.0 g/t Au from 15m.

The Calandria Sur mineralised system now extends over an area of 800m NW-SE by 600m NE-SW and up to 170m below surface, Mariana added. 

Intensive further target definition is underway at Las Calandrias with integrated results expected this month and Phase V drilling scheduled by end June and early July.

John Horsburgh, chairman, said, "These positive first results of the re-sampling programme indicate further gold and silver below and adjacent to the Calandria Sur rhyolite dome resource, in rock types initially considered to be barren.

"This, together with numerous volcaniclastic-hosted intersections already reported, greatly enhances the potential to expand the Calandria Sur mineralised system in the next drill programme with a view to increasing the resource."

The Las Calandrias project in the Deseado Massif, Santa Cruz Province in Patagonia, Argentina is estimated to have a preliminary resource of 519,000 ounces of gold equivalent.

Gold explorer Mariana Resources (LON:MARL,TSX:MRY) believes the major milestones achieved during 2011 have given it a good base to advance its flagship Las Calandrias and other South American projects in the coming year.

Mariana added it intends to start follow up drilling at Las Calandrias, which is in Argentina, in the next few months, along with detailed mapping, rock chip sampling and re-assaying of volcaniclastics drill core.

This will further define new targets recently identified along the northbeastern Calandria Sur dome margins, the newly discovered El Clavo breccia zone and adjacent country rock volcaniclastics.

Mariana posted a loss before tax of £4.3 million in 2011, up from £3.8 million in 2010. The group ended the year with cash and cash equivalents of just under £6 million.

The Las Calandrias project in the Deseado Massif, Santa Cruz Province in Patagonia, Argentina is estimated to have a preliminary resource of 519,000 ounces of gold equivalent. 

Operator of the joint venture project Hochschild Mining (LON:HOC) was focused on the Bajo target area in the second half of 2011.

Scout drilling on the target intersected shallow gold mineralisation including intervals of 10.2 metres grading 1.2 grammes per tonne (g/t) gold and seven g/t gold from a depth of 9.2 metres and one metre at 6.9 g/t gold and 10.5 g/t silver.

The company added that recent rock chip sampling has highlighted the Amigos structure as a new priority target. The results received from Amigos included intersections of five g/t gold and 680 g/t silver.

More exploration is planned at Los Amigos for 2012 including mapping, induced polarisation, trenching and channel sampling to define drill targets.

“The gold intersection at Bajo and new Amigos target in the Los Amigos joint venture are encouraging,” said executive chairman of Mariana John Horsburgh.

Mariana also updated investors on its activities in Chile, where the results of mapping have indicated potential for high sulphidation gold-silver deposits and possibly a deeper copper-gold-molybdenum mineralisation.

The company holds an option to acquire a 100 percent interest in Jiguata before December 2014 with scheduled payments totalling US$300,000 and a final option payment of US$1.2 million.

“While Mariana's main objective remains its core projects in Santa Cruz province, Argentina, the company's focused programme for epithermal precious metals in northern Chile is highlighted by the Jiguata Project while maintaining exposure to ‘company-maker’ copper-gold exploration operated and funded by Cliffs,” added Horsburgh.

Elsewhere in Chile, weak gold and silver anomalies at Mariana’s wholly owned Corcovado concessions could indicate precious metal deposition at depth. Low sulphidation epithermal targets there will be tested by reverse circulation and diamond drilling.

In other news from Mariana’s Chilean projects, it has elected not to proceed with the option agreement with the holder of the Tolita property because of access problems on the part of some landowners.

At the end of last quarter, Mariana decided to dilute its interest in SCM Tierra Noble, the operator of Perro Chico and Buenaventura projects, from 30 percent to 23.5 percent, to focus on its key projects in the Santa Cruz province of Argentina.

Mariana Resources (LON:MARL, TSE:MRY) said today the results of the Phase IV drilling programme at the Las Calandrias project in Argentina indicated potential for resource expansion and new targets.

Today’s report, which included the results from 21 of the final 28 holes drilled as part of the Phase IV programme at Las Calandrias, follows a set of drilling results in November, which showed potential for mineralisation outside the Calandria Sur deposit.

These results reported today were mostly from the El Clavo, Nido Este, Nido Norte and La Morena targets.

El Clavo was confirmed as a prime target for bulk-tonnage and deeper high grade mineralisation, returning intersections of anomalous low grade gold including grades of up to 0.4 grammes per tonne (g/t) gold across 20 metres.

At the La Morena target, Mariana intersected a high grade interval of 0.5 metres at 9 g/t gold and 55 g/t silver, while two scout holes at Nido Este holes intersected anomalous gold including 0.2 g/t gold across 12 metres, opening up a new target zone.

A previous induced polarisation (IP) survey indicated a large sulphide system at Nido Este, which was tested by only two scout holes in 2010. 

Investors cheered the report, sending shares in Mariana up by 7 percent to trade at 11.5 pence in early deals, valuing the company at £26.3 million.

In addition to the drilling results, Mariana also released a report prepared by independent consultant Jeffrey Hedenquist, who pointed out that the depth of drilling has not fully tested potential in several areas.

He recommended targeting both disseminated and deeper feeder structures with possible high grade at Calandria Sur and El Clavo.

“This potentially favourable host for epithermal gold, together with scope to expand the Calandria Sur mineralised systeminto surrounding volcaniclastics, plus new targets opening up elsewhere in and around the dome field, augur well for an exciting Q1/Q2 exploration programme,” said chairman of Mariana Resources John Horsburgh.

Mariana plans to continue analyzing all results it has received to date during the current quarter to define drill targets for the Phase V drilling programme.

Mapping and sampling to better define new targets that have already been identified is currently in progress.

Six holes remain to be assayed including four holes from La Picasa/Lomo Verde and one each from El Clavo and Vieja Herradura. However, Mariana said these holes did not appear to host major mineralisation.

Broker Fox-Davies said that the results for the El Clavo target, although displaying anomalous grades which indicate the top of a deeper seated epithermal system, look unlikely to be good enough for the target to form a deposit in its own right at open pittable depths. 

“The good news is that Mariana still have a handful of quality targets to follow up including the lateral extension to Calandria Sur and La Picassa which has previously showed very good results (40 m at 1.0 g/t Au and 15 m at 0.9 g/t Au) and is open along strike,” it added.

Oriel Securities added that including El Clavo, the Calandria Sur mineralised 'footprint' now extends over around 850m by 350m-500m with intersections located up to 300m to the east and 120m to the north of the initial resource area at Calandria Sur.

Mariana seems to be being overlooked as an exploration company and with AngloGold as a 19.9% shareholder it is one to watch says the broker.

In a private placement, Mariana will receive gross proceeds of £5.4 million from AngloGold in return for 45 million shares at 12 pence per share – a 41-per cent premium to Mariana’s closing price of 8.5 pence per share last night. This means that AngloGold will gain a 19.9 per cent stake in the business.

The terms of the deal state that Mariana will commit to use at least 75 per cent of the new funds to develop its various low-sulphidation epithermal gold-silver deposits located in the Deseado Massif, Santa Cruz Province in Patagonia, Argentina.

Mariana’s Las Calandrias project in the province is estimated to have a preliminary resource of 519,000 ounces of gold equivalent 

“We view the transaction with AngloGold, one of the world’s leading gold producers, as a major endorsement of Las Calandrias Project and its potential to develop into a top tier project with a significant mineral endowment,” said Mariana’s executive chairman, John Horsburgh.

“This alliance further serves to support our belief in the prospectivity of Mariana’s extensive 160,000-hectare land position in Santa Cruz, which includes our second gold-silver discovery at the Sierra Blanca Project. The region contains a number of significant gold-silver mines and projects including AngloGold's Cerro Vanguardia operation."