Ariana Resources plc (AIM & PLUS: AAU) announced that first metallurgical tests on material from the Kiziltepe project enable the company to keep all their ore processing options open.
Mineralisation at Kiziltepe, in Turkey, will be amenable to carbon-in-leach and heap-leach processing. A scoping study on potential mining and treatment options will following a drilling program to extend and upgrade the resource at Kiziltepe.
Dr Kerim Sener, MD of Ariana said:
"These metallurgical results are extremely encouraging and compare very favourably with those obtained from similar deposits in Turkey which are already in production.
We are now undertaking the groundwork required for our scoping study and making preparations for trial mining of the Arzu vein at Kiziltepe.
Preparations are also underway for further resource definition drilling at several veins on the prospect, with the aim of increasing and refining our existing resource."