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 completes licence transfers to Red Rabbit gold JV
Ariana Resources (LON:AAU) said it completed licence transfers to the Red Rabbit joint venture company, Zenit Madencilik, thus completing a key milestone of the project.
The Red Rabbit project is combination of the Kiziltepe and the Tavsan gold projects in western Turkey and will be progressed in a JV with Turkish construction firm Proccea.
Proccea will earn 50 percent of the Red Rabbit project with a US$1.4 million commitment to the bankable feasibility and environmental studies, and a further US$6.6 million to start plant construction.
In today’s update, Ariana said it transferred seven operating licences and one exploration licence to Zenit Madencilik, which will manage Red Rabbit.
The Initial capitalisation of the JV company following transfers will be around US$5.25 million, and a US$500,000 good-will payment has been released from escrow to Ariana.
Ariana managing director Dr Kerim Sener said: "The transfer of the Red Rabbit project licences from our subsidiary to Zenit Madencilik represents the completion of a critical JV milestone. The transfers will now enable capitalisation of our joint venture with Proccea Construction Co.
“Proccea are to formally commence their earn-in to the JV company pro-rata to the capital contributions that they make as part of Phase 1 of the joint venture. Within the project development schedule, Phase 1 includes feasibility and environmental studies, which are due to run to the third quarter of 2011.”
Ariana will use the US$ 500,000 good-will payment from Proccea to further its exploration programmes in western Turkey and establish new exploration initiatives elsewhere in the country. It has been focused recently on exploration across the Red Rabbit project area and is currently expanding its exploration programme to cover other prospective parts of western Turkey.
