Ariana Resources PLC (AIM:AAU) said its wholly-owned Turkish operating subsidiary, Galata Mineral Madencilik, has been granted the exclusive exploration rights for three new licenses in Eastern Turkey as part of Project Leopard.
The three contiguous licences are valid for seven years and cover an area of 6,000 hectares.
"We are exceptionally pleased with the grant of these new licences following our application to the General Directorate of Mining and Petroleum Affairs in 2022,” said Dr Kerim Sener, managing director of Ariana in a statement.
“The grant follows a revised approval and licence-issuing process, which was successfully achieved by the company on the first attempt. These licences also represent the first new licences secured in Turkey by the company in over ten years and signify our pivot towards greenfield exploration in the country," he added.
The idea is that Ariana targets the discovery of multi-million ounce copper-gold deposits in eastern Turkey, and further licence applications are planned.
This project generation process is being augmented by the Newmont 2D Database, the use of which gives right-of-first-refusal plus a 1% NSR to Newmont if a project enters production.
Sener noted: “The fact that several licences adjacent to ours were recently acquired in auction for around £5mln bodes well for the potential of this area and simultaneously demonstrates the potential value of our ground.
“Over recent months, we have been identifying multiple prospective locations across eastern Turkey using our proprietary exploration datasets coupled with the use of the Newmont 2D Database under licence. This work has also involved extensive new satellite remote-sensing and geophysical data processing and interpretation which we are conducting in-house.
"We are now poised to make further applications for ground across the region in the future, with a view to initiating a major greenfields exploration effort targeting the discovery of significant new copper-gold deposits."