Ariana Resources PLC Ariana Resources Plc : Targets At Salinbas Gold Project

 
TIDMAAU 
 
   18 January 2017 
 
   AIM: AAU 
 
   SIGNIFICANT TARGETS AT SALINBAS GOLD PROJECT 
 
   Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the gold exploration 
and development company operating in Turkey, is pleased to announce an 
update on the Salinbas Gold Project ("Salinbas" or "the Project"). 
 
   Highlights: 
 
 
   -- Thirty-seven target areas are defined within the Salinbas Project 
      following a thorough analysis of all previous data, with several areas 
      prioritised for additional work. 
 
   -- Highly significant drill intercepts that warrant follow-up include 125m @ 
      2.44 g/t Au + 0.3% Cu and 34.5m @ 1.75 g/t Au + 6.13 g/t Ag and 164m @ 
      0.16 g/t Au + 0.3% Cu + 120 ppm Mo in the Ardala area. 
 
   -- Numerous significant rock-chip and soil geochemical anomalies 
      (principally Au, Ag, Cu, Mo) which have not been drill-tested, also 
      require follow-up. 
 
   -- Project area includes targets developed around the Salinbas Au-Ag deposit, 
      the Ardala Cu-Au-Mo porphyry and the Hizarliyayla Au-Ag system among 
      several other prospects. 
 
   -- Company planning to conduct exploration along the Hot Gold Corridor 
      during 2017 to establish the continuity of mineralisation from 
      Salinbas-Ardala through to Hizarliyayla (Figure 1). 
 
 
   Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented: 
 
   "The Salinbas Project, although already containing a JORC resource of 
c.1Moz gold equivalent, remains only partially explored.  There are 
several drilling results, rock-chip, soil and geophysical and geological 
targets that have not yet been tested to any significant degree.  These 
targets are mainly defined within and around the Salinbas and Ardala 
resource areas but several additional targets lie elsewhere within the 
16km long Hot Gold Corridor. 
 
   Beyond the main Salinbas deposit, several well defined target areas at 
Ardala South East and South West, Hizarliyayla and Incesu South, among 
others, will become the focus of generative soil and rock-chip sampling 
work during 2017.  In particular, we are excited by the possibility that 
the mineralised part of the Ardala Porphyry extends for a further 1km to 
the south and represents a style of mineralisation that is enriched in 
molybdenum.  We are also particularly encouraged by several significant 
rock-chip and soil anomalies encountered in the Hizarliyayla area, which 
lies about 8km to the north of Hot Maden and along the same geological 
trend. 
 
   We will be providing further updates on the Project during the months 
ahead and our teams are looking forward to continuing the exploration 
within an area that, along with Hot Maden, is proving to be an 
exceptionally prospective goldfield with multi-million ounce potential." 
 
   This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of 
Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014. 
 
   Figure 1: Map of the Salinbas project area showing the location of major 
prospects, related alteration and mapped intrusions.  Most of the gold 
prospects, including Salinbas, lie within the Hot Gold Corridor. 
 
   Link:  http://hugin.info/138153/R/2071877/778619.pdf 
 
   Target Generation 
 
   A comprehensive review of geochemical (Figure 2), geophysical (Figure 3) 
and geological data pertaining to the Project has been completed by the 
Company and its consultants since the acquisition from Eldorado Gold. 
This review has identified 37 target areas in total with several 
warranting comprehensive follow-up work (Table 1).  A select number of 
these targets will be assessed further in advance of the exploration 
field season and, where possible, new drilling permissions will be 
sought in order that some of these targets may be drilled during 2017. 
The Company is planning a programme of work to conduct during 2017 that 
will refine these target areas further and better determine the future 
exploration potential of the Project. 
 
   Table 1: A selection of targets generated for follow-up during 2017, in 
alphabetical order.  Several targets have not been drill-tested and 
require comprehensive follow-up through soil geochemical methods before 
they can be refined ahead of drilling. 
 
 
 
 
Prospect      Peak          Peak Soil Anomaly             Best Drill Intercept 
Name          Rock-Chip 
Ardala        7.02 g/t Au   n/a                           125m @ 2.44 g/t Au + 0.3% Cu 
Carapace       13.9 g/t Ag                                 inc. 30m @ 7.5 g/t Au + 0.3% Cu 
               1.39% Cu 
               0.17% Mo 
Ardala South  2.35 g/t Au   n/a                           18.5m @ 1.19 g/t Au + 16 g/t Ag + 0.6% Cu; 
West           272 g/t Ag                                  34.5m @ 1.75 g/t Au + 6.13 g/t Ag; 
               3.94% Cu                                    18.2m @ 2.2 g/t Au + 26 g/t Ag + 0.2% Cu. 
               1.32% Pb 
               4.25% Zn 
Ardala South  n/a           361 ppb Au                    n/a 
East                         414 ppm Cu 
                             14.6 ppm Mo 
                             4.4 ppm Te 
Hizarliyayla  1.25 g/t Au   664 ppb, 602 ppb, 525 ppb Au  n/a 
              + 37.3 g/t     58 ppm Ag 
              Ag 
Incesu South  n/a           230 ppb Au                    164m @ 0.16 g/t Au + 0.3 % Cu + 120 ppm Mo + 0.38 
Porphyry                     41 ppm Mo                     ppm Re 
                             430 ppm Cu 
                             2.34 ppm Te 
Okumuslar     0.95 g/t Au   n/a                           n/a 
               50 ppm Mo 
               49 ppm Sb 
Salinbas      0.72 g/t Au   n/a                           n/a 
East           3.9 g/t Ag 
Salinbas      0.38 g/t Au   n/a                           2.5m @ 4.1 g/t Au + 4.0 g/t Ag + 118 ppm Mo 
South          41 ppm Mo 
 
 
   Figure 2: Map of the Salinbas Project area, showing the extent of 
current geochemical anomalies for gold and silver in addition to the 
area not yet tested by geochemistry that shows potential for the 
continuation of mineralisation along the Hot Gold Corridor. 
 
   Link:  http://hugin.info/138153/R/2071877/778620.pdf 
 
   Figure 3: Map of the Salinbas Project area, showing the extent of 
current geophysical data coverage (magnetics) along the Hot Gold 
Corridor.  A significant area has not yet been tested with any form of 
geophysics and this will be a priority for future work. 
 
   Link:  http://hugin.info/138153/R/2071877/778621.pdf 
 
   Salinbas Project 
 
   The Salinbas Project is located in the Pontide Metallogenic Province in 
northeastern Turkey and lies approximately 80km southeast of the coastal 
city of Hopa and 20km east of Artvin. The project comprises three 
notable prospects: Salinbas, Ardala and Hizarliyayla (Figure 1).  The 
project comprises three licences which are owned 100% by the operating 
subsidiary, Pontid Madencilik San. ve Tic. Ltd.  Two of the licences are 
in process at the General Directorate of Mining Affairs for conversion 
to operational status during 2017. 
 
   Salinbas is the most notable of the prospect areas, having been 
identified in 2009 following rock-chip sampling and trenching, which 
included 33m at 9.6 g/t Au and 46m at 8.3 g/t Au.  Follow-up drilling 
identified a gently dipping mineralised body emplaced along a thrust 
zone to the east of a series of breccia pipes and the main body of the 
Ardala Cu-Au-Mo porphyry.  The best intercepts in initial shallow 
drilling included 9.5m @ 6.48 g/t Au + 39.4 g/t Ag, 11.3m @ 4.98 g/t Au 
+ 42.8 g/t Ag and 25m @ 3.34 g/t Au + 7.9 g/t Ag.  Best intercepts from 
further drilling included 31.10m @ 1.38g/t Au, 17.90m @ 2.09 g/t Au and 
9.20m @ 2.25 g/t Au, with most mineralised intercepts obtained from less 
than 70m below surface.  A total of 11,709m drilling for 86 drill holes 
has been completed on Salinbas to date and has defined a tabular 
resource (Table 1) which dips towards the east at 25 degrees. 
Substantial vertical relief exists between the top of the mineralisation 
at Salinbas Peak (1,320m above sea level) to the lower limits of the 
current resource (780m above sea level) in the vicinity of the Ardala 
porphyry. 
 
   Table 2:  Classified JORC 2012 Mineral Resource estimate for Salinbas 
(dated 1 April 2015). The resource was modelled on the basis of geology 
and a lower cut-off of 0.5 g/t Au.  Numbers may not sum due to rounding. 
 
 
 
 
     JORC                       Grade Au      Grade Ag 
Classification   Tonnage (Mt)     (g/t)        (g/t)      Ounces Au  Ounces Ag 
   Indicated             2.29         2.11          11.9    155,500    877,700 
   Inferred              7.67         2.00           9.7    493,300  2,396,400 
     TOTAL               9.96         2.03          10.2    648,900  3,274,200 
 
 
 
   Limited exploration drilling between Salinbas and the Ardala porphyry to 
the east has also been conducted.  Highly encouraging results from these 
holes confirmed the need for further exploration in this area and 
suggest the continuity of mineralisation from the Ardala porphyry in the 
valley floor to the Salinbas system on the ridge, representing a 
vertical distance of 675m and a horizontal distance of close to 2km. 
The best recent intercepts from drilling in the area connecting the 
Salinbas system to the Ardala system include 81.5m @ 1.28 g/t Au + 10.5 
g/t Ag, 34.5m @ 2.21 g/t Au + 10.7 g/t Ag and 18.2m @ 2.20 g/t Au + 25.6 
g/t Ag.  Further establishing the links between these two areas will be 
an important objective for future drilling programmes. 
 
   A scoping study focused on Salinbas and completed in 2015 (see 
announcement on 1 April 2015), demonstrated potential for the project to 
yield strong financial returns, with NPV (8%) at US$108M, pre-tax IRR of 
28%, and payback secured within approximately 3.3 years over the Life of 
Mine ("LoM") at a gold price of US$1,250/oz.  This demonstrates that a 
potentially viable resource development opportunity already exists at 
Salinbas and that future exploration work will probably reinforce this 
view. 
 
   The nearby Ardala area hosts a porphyry copper-gold (plus molybdenum) 

mineralised system associated with a series of nested quartz-diorite 
intrusions of Eocene age within an Upper Cretaceous volcano-sedimentary 
sequence. Geological mapping, soil, rock-chip and drill sample data, and 
a ground magnetic survey outlined the mineralised porphyry and in 2013 a 
JORC Mineral Resource was established (Table 2).  Exposed parts of the 
porphyry have dimensions of 600 x 700m and interpretation of magnetic 
data suggests further lateral continuity beneath limestone units over an 
area of 1,000m x 1,000m in extent.  Previous exploration also focused 
specifically on the mineralised intrusions, while surrounding 
gold-bearing skarns (peak grade 5.16 g/t Au and 0.2% Cu in rock-chips) 
and related disseminated mineralisation in the host-rocks remain largely 
untested.  The best intercepts from recent drilling in the Ardala area 
include 119.5m @ 0.71g/t Au + 0.21% Cu + 0.01% Mo, 236.3m @ 0.34 g/t Au 
+ 0.06% Cu and 122.9m @ 0.58 g/t Au + 0.05% Cu, which tested an area of 
mineralised porphyry and immediately adjacent limestone.  Deeper (>150m) 
high-grade intercepts outside of the porphyry at Ardala include 4.2m @ 
6.74 g/t Au, 2.8m @ 3.34 g/t Au + 38.96 g/t Ag + 2.56% Zn, 2.0m @ 5.29 
g/t Au + 13.5 g/t Ag, indicating the potential for other styles of 
higher grade mineralisation sitting adjacent to the porphyry. 
 
   Table 3: Classified JORC 2004 Mineral Resource estimate for Ardala 
(dated 13 April 2013).  Separate resource domains were established for 
the Au, Cu and Mo components of the Ardala porphyry.  There is a 95% 
coincidence of the Au and Cu domains, and a 40-50% coincidence of the Au 
and Mo domains. 
 
 
 
 
 
                     Tonnage 
JORC Classification    (Mt)   Grade (ppm)  Tonnes Metal  Ounces Metal  Element 
 
 Inferred               4.66        2,175        10,000                     Cu 
                       18.00          136         2,400                     Mo 
                       16.27         0.60                     323,000       Au 
 
 
   Contacts: 
 
 
 
 
Ariana Resources plc             Tel: [phone] 
Michael de Villiers, Chairman 
Kerim Sener, Managing Director 
 
Beaumont Cornish Limited         Tel: [phone] 
Roland Cornish / Felicity Geidt 
 
Beaufort Securities Limited      Tel: [phone] 
Jon Belliss 
 
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited      Tel: [phone] 
Adam James / Tom Salvesen 
 
 
 
   Editors' Note: 
 
   Dr Kerim Sener, BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD, is the Managing Director of Ariana 
Resources plc.  A graduate of the University of Southampton in Geology, 
he also holds a Master's degree from the Royal School of Mines (Imperial 
College, London) in Mineral Exploration and a doctorate from the 
University of Western Australia.  He is a Fellow of The Geological 
Society of London and has worked in geological research and mineral 
consultancy in Africa, Australia and Europe.  He has read and approved 
the technical disclosure in this regulatory announcement. 
 
   About Ariana Resources 
 
   Ariana is an exploration and development company focused on epithermal 
gold-silver and porphyry copper-gold deposits in Turkey.  The Company is 
developing a portfolio of prospective licences originally selected on 
the basis of its in-house geological and remote-sensing database. 
 
   The Company's flagship assets are its Kiziltepe and Tavsan gold projects 
which form the Red Rabbit Gold Project.  Both contain a series of 
prospects, within two prolific mineralised districts in the Western 
Anatolian Volcanic and Extensional (WAVE) Province in western Turkey. 
This Province hosts the largest operating gold mines in Turkey and 
remains highly prospective for new porphyry and epithermal deposits. 
These core projects, which are separated by a distance of 75km, form 
part of a 50:50 Joint Venture with Proccea Construction Co.  The 
Kiziltepe Sector of the Red Rabbit Project is fully-permitted and is 
currently in construction.  The total resource inventory at the Red 
Rabbit Project and wider project area stands at c. 525,000 ounces of 
gold equivalent.  At Kiziltepe a Net Smelter Return ("NSR") royalty of 
up to 2.5% on future production is payable to Franco-Nevada Corporation. 
At Tavsan an NSR royalty of up to 2% on future production is payable to 
Sandstorm Gold. 
 
   In north-eastern Turkey, Ariana owns 100% of the Salinbas Gold Project, 
comprising the Salinbas gold-silver deposit and the Ardala 
copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry among other prospects.  The total 
resource inventory of the Salinbas project area is c. 1 million ounces 
of gold equivalent.  A NSR royalty of up to 2% on future production is 
payable to Eldorado Gold Corporation. 
 
   Beaufort Securities Limited and Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited are joint 
brokers to the Company and Beaumont Cornish Limited is the Company's 
Nominated Adviser. 
 
   For further information on Ariana you are invited to visit the Company's 
website at www.arianaresources.com. 
 
   Glossary of Technical Terms: 
 
   "Ag" the chemical symbol for silver; 
 
   "Au" the chemical symbol for gold; 
 
   "Cu" the chemical symbol for copper; 
 
   "g/t" grams per tonne; 
 
   "Indicated resource" a part of a mineral resource for which tonnage, 
densities, shape, physical characteristics, grade and mineral content 
can be estimated with a reasonable level of confidence. It is based on 
exploration, sampling and testing information gathered through 
appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, 
workings and drill holes. The locations are too widely or 
inappropriately spaced to confirm geological and/or grade continuity but 
are spaced closely enough for continuity to be assumed; 
 
   "Inferred resource" a part of a mineral resource for which tonnage, 
grade and mineral content can be estimated with a low level of 
confidence. It is inferred from geological evidence and has assumed, but 
not verified, geological and/or grade continuity. It is based on 
information gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such 
as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes that may be 
limited or of uncertain quality and reliability; 
 
   "IRR" Internal Rate of Return; 
 
   "JORC" the Joint Ore Reserves Committee; 
 
   "m" Metres; 
 
   "M" million; 
 
   "Mo" the chemical symbol for molybdenum; 
 
   "Mt" million tonnes; 
 
   "NPV" Net Present Value; 
 
   "oz" Ounces; 
 
   "Pb" the chemical symbol for lead; 
 
   "ppb" parts per billion; 
 
   "ppm" parts per million; 
 
   "Re" the chemical symbol for rhenium; 
 
   "Sb" the chemical symbol for antimony; 
 
   "Te" the chemical symbol for tellurium; 
 
   "Zn" the chemical symbol for zinc. 
 
   Ends 
 
   Figure 1: http://hugin.info/138153/R/2071877/778619.pdf 
   Figure 3: http://hugin.info/138153/R/2071877/778621.pdf 
   Figure 2: http://hugin.info/138153/R/2071877/778620.pdf 
 
   This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf 
of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients. 
 
   The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely 
responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information 
contained therein. 
 
   Source: Ariana Resources plc via Globenewswire 
 
 
  http://www.arianaresources.com/s/Home.asp 
 

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January 18, 2017 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)

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