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 exercises more warrants as part of placing
Turkey-focused explorer Ariana Resources (LON:AAU) announced today that it will exercise 210,525 warrants, which were granted as part of a placing which raised £1.16 million earlier this year.
The funds were for exploration and development projects and possible acquisitions.
Today (December 7), the firm said that it had received requests to exercise 210,525 warrants, granted as a one-for-one with the placing shares announced on February 18 this year - exercisable at 4.75 pence each within twelve months.
On Monday this week (December 5) it told investors it had received requests to exercise 1,052,630 warrants as part of the same placing.
In February this year, Ariana said that it had placed 24.5 million shares at a price of 4.75 pence - nearly equal to the then share price of 5 pence - and said it was pleased with the support received for the placing.
“These funds provide the company with the ability to move quickly on additional assets which meet our investment criteria, as we build the company towards being a mid-tier multi-project gold exploration and development company focused on Turkey, an emerging globally significant gold destination," it said.
As a result of the placing, chairman Michael Spriggs increased his stake in the company to 0.28 percent, non-executive director and company secretary Michael de Villiers upped his shareholding to 0.93 percent and non-executive director and chief financial officer William Payne increased his stake to 0.18 percent. Spriggs and de Villiers each took 100,000 shares and Payne took 102,632.
Ariana’s priority project is the Red Rabbit joint venture in Turkey. It is the centre-piece of Ariana’s growth strategy and brings together the firm’s Kiziltepe prospect with Proccea’s Tavsan gold area.
The firm currently has a JORC compliant resource of 448,000 ounces across the wider Red Rabbit project area and plans to lift that to around 1 million ounces.
Red Rabbit consists of two assets 75 km apart - Sindirgi (which contains Kiziltepe, Kepez and Karakavak) and Tavsan.
Last month, the company unveiled silver results and broker Northland said that these, along with previous high grade gold finds at the Kepez prospect underlined the potential to expand the firm's overall resource.
As at 11.30 am, the firms' shares were trading at 4.75 pence each.
