www.arianaresources.com
Ariana is an AIM-listed and PLUS-traded gold exploration and development company which aims to develop new gold mines in Turkey. Ariana is lead by an experienced board and is spearheaded by a focused Turkish management team. Current resources stand at approximately 400,000 ounces of gold in western Turkey, with two key projects under development: the high-grade Kiziltepe prospect and the heap-leachable Tavsan prospect. An exploration joint venture with European Goldfields (20% shareholders in Ariana) in northeastern Turkey is focused on the Ardala copper-gold porphyry and surrounding areas. Ariana holds a large and prospective licence portfolio from which a pipeline of new exploration targets is being generated for drill-testing utilizing an ‘in-house’ drilling team. Exploration and development success is being delivered via a strategy which integrates geoscientific knowledge and new technologies to identify and advance prospects for drill-testing. Ariana aims to develop a portfolio of licences in western Turkey which contain an aggregate of one million ounces of gold; a target which it is already on the way to achieving.
Ariana Resources reports robust gold and silver grades from Red Rabbit drilling
Turkey focused gold miner Ariana Resources (LON:AAU) said the latest drilling results from the Banu and Derya veins at its Red Rabbit project in Turkey “confirmed the integrity” of the resource at the Kiziltepe prospect with mineralised quartz intersected in every hole for a flawless “hit-rate”.
In addition to that, the company said that the gold and silver grades were “robust” and demonstrated economic potential.
The intersections included 12.28 g/t (grammes per tonne) of gold equivalent over 2 metres, 4.59 g/t of gold equivalent over 14 metres and 3.31 g/t of gold equivalent over 11 metres. The peak gold equivalent grade reached 23.12 g/t over 1 metre.
Other intervals included 5.92 g/t gold equivalent over 4 metres, 6.93 g/t gold equivalent over 5 metres, 3.53 g/t gold equivalent over 9 metres, 3.31 g/t gold equivalent over 11 metres, 3.44 g/t gold equivalent over 11 metres and 4.15 g/t gold equivalent over 5 metres.
The results have indicated that a further 580 metres of mineralised strike could be added to the deposit after showing a fully developed vein system between the Darya and Arzu South veins.
“These results underpin the integrity of the resource at the Kiziltepe deposit...the improvement of grade in this area indicates that there is now scope to increase the size of the resource through further drilling of these vein extensions. This discovery represents a very positive start to our Joint Venture with Proccea Construction and justifies further drilling in this area this season,” said managing director Kerim Sener.
The JV agreement between Ariana and Proccea was finalised in mid July with the latter committing US$8 million to the development of Red Rabbit. Under the terms of the joint venture, Proccea will provide US$1.4 million for a feasibility study, EIA (Environmental Impact Study) and additional permitting with a further US$6.6 million committed towards plant construction.
The current drilling programme has been devised to enable conversion of current resources on these veins from the Inferred to Indicated category.
Ariana is focused on epithermal gold-silver and porphyry copper-gold deposits in Turkey. The company is exploring a portfolio of prospective licences selected on the basis of its in-house geological and remote-sensing database, on its own in western Turkey and in joint venture with European Goldfields Ltd (AIM, TSX: EGU) in north-eastern Turkey.
The core Kiziltepe and Tavsan sectors are separated by a distance of 75 kilometres. The total resource inventory currently stands at 401,000oz gold equivalent.
