Ariana Resources plc (LON:AAU) has received a forestry permit for Kizilcukur, one of its wholly-owned projects in Turkey and a likely high grade satellite deposit for the soon to open Kiziltepe mine.
The junior believes there is potential for 18 months of add-on mine life for Kiziltepe from three shallow open-pits at Kizilcukur.
Kizilcukur is 22km to the northeast of the Kiziltepe mine site, with a resource of 308,000 tonnes at 2.11g/t gold and 73.4g/t silver.
The forestry permit will enable production from the Kizilcukur project until 2022.
Ariana also has an option to sell Kizilcukur to its joint venture company at three times the exploration cost.
Kerim Sener, Ariana’s managing director, said that with the permit it would be able to commence trial mining at the Kizilcukur site during 2017 and enable the stockpiling of material for future processing at Kiziltepe.
“This trial mining exercise will fast-track this project through an internal feasibility study, with the aim of it becoming a satellite source of high-grade material for the Kiziltepe operations.”