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 achieves first production at Kiziltepe, discovers gold prospect as losses narrow
Turkey operating gold miner Ariana Resources (AIM: AAU) released its interims, reporting a narrower pre-tax loss of £191,000 compared to £343,000 for H1 2008, along with progress at its projects in Turkey, achieving first gold production at Kiziltepe and making discoveries at the Ardala project in north-eastern Turkey.
Despite operating amid “unprecedented economic uncertainly,” Ariana decided to follow through with its objectives in Turkey, including trial mining at the Kiziltepe project and achieved first gold production, which led it to reappraise Kiziltepe and its other principal project Tavsan and merge them into a single project dubbed Red Rabbit. The integrated project has a measured and indicated resource of 230,000 ounces (oz) of gold, which would satisfy a mine life of over 7 years with an annual production rate of 30,000 oz. Additionally, it has a JORC compliant inferred resource of 170,000 oz, making for a total of 401,000 oz.
Further exploration work is planned for both Kiziltepe and Tavsan to increase the total resource to 500,000 oz. The company is also set to proceed with the feasibility study for Red Rabbit in Q4, including testing activities to determine the optimal crush size of ore with respect to costs and recovery.
Ariana also reported progress in north-eastern Turkey, where its joint venture with European Goldfields managed to make several discoveries, including the Salinbas prospect, a higher grade gold zone, where rock chip samples returned grades of between 1.42 g/t (grams per tonne) and 20.5 g/t gold, averaging 10.8 g/t. Trenching and follow-up drilling is due to commence on the prospect in “near future.”
The company aimed to develop gold resources in Turkey “in the shortest timeframe possible,” being on the threshold of “important development and production decisions,” having raised £500,000 at the beginning of the year and then a further £800,000 to fund the development and exploration work at Red Rabbit.
