TIDMAAU
RNS Number : 1086M
Ariana Resources PLC
18 January 2016
18 January 2016
AIM: AAU
ARIANA RESOURCES
EXCELLENT RESULTS FROM KIZILCUKUR DRILLING
Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the gold
exploration and development company operating in Turkey, is pleased
to announce the results of its drilling programme, completed during
November, at the Kizilcukur Project, which is located approximately
22km to the northeast of its Kiziltepe Mine. Kizilcukur is located
outside of the Red Rabbit joint venture with Proccea Construction
Co. and is 100% owned by Ariana.
Highlights:
-- 1,598 meters of new Reverse Circulation ("RC") drilling
identifies high-grade and near surface zones of mineralisation
within the Kizilcukur vein system; all intercepts hit
mineralisation within less than 60m from surface.
-- Best infill intercepts include, 8m @ 7.6g/t Gold + 194g/t
Silver, 5m @ 3.5g/t Gold + 263g/t Silver and 11m @ 1.3g/t Gold +
73g/t Silver.
-- 76 meters of rock-saw channel sampling also completed, with
best results of 2.0m @ 10.5g/t Gold + 455g/t Silver, 2.7m @ 4.4g/t
Gold + 229g/t and 2.5m @ 3.1g/t Gold + 177g/t Silver.
-- New drilling data permits refinements to the geological model
and will enable a revision of the JORC resource for Kizilcukur in
order to assess its potential as a satellite operation to the
Kiziltepe Mine.
Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented:
"We are very pleased with the results of the drilling programme,
which demonstrate the potential of the Kizilcukur Project to
contain a resource that may become a higher-grade satellite
operation to the Kiziltepe Mine, which is in construction. The
results have confirmed previous work and show that the highest gold
and silver grades are encountered within 30m of surface, which is
particularly encouraging when considering that open-pit mining is
also envisaged at this location. Future drilling will need to
concentrate on a specific level within the vein system to
demonstrate the full strike potential of this resource area. We
expect to continue to improve the resource at this project through
further drilling and, in addition, look forward to updating the
market with further drilling results, including those from the
Kiziltepe Mine."
Drilling Programme
The 2015 RC drilling programme at Kizilcukur was designed to
improve confidence in the current JORC Inferred resource (162,000
tonnes @ 2.39 g/t gold and 48.5 g/t silver). This Inferred
resource, established in 2013 from 17 historic diamond drill holes
completed in 2007 and 2008, consists primarily of two vein systems.
Surface sampling and vein mapping completed more recently
identified significant potential further along strike of the areas
drilled in the past.
From late October through to early November 2015, the Ariana
team completed 1,598m of RC drilling with the addition of 26 new
holes (Table 1 and Figure 1). The average drilling depth for the
programme was 60m, intercepting the Kizilcukur vein with an average
vein thickness of three metres. Collar spacing between the new and
historic holes has been narrowed to 25m in several places. Testing
for continuation of the mineralisation further along strike was
undertaken on approximately 50m spaced centres. Drilling of known
mineralisation has demonstrated some continuity of the Kizilcukur
main vein, with an offset in two locations caused by north-south
faulting which has been intruded by a quartz-feldspar porphyry.
In addition to the drilling campaign, the Ariana team also
completed a 75.7m rock-saw channel-sampling programme (Table 2).
The work comprised the cutting of 26 channels, which tested 700m of
strike (35%) of the total 2km of mapped veins in the area. Channel
spacing was approximately 25m, with each channel positioned to
correspond to an existing, or planned drill hole. The channels
primarily tested outcropping manganese-rich quartz veins, but also
aimed to test the peripheries of historic workings where quartz
vein was absent.
The latest drilling confirms the presence of a highly
mineralised zone over a strike length of up to 200m, with moderate
width (approx. 4m), down to about 30m vertical depth (Figure 2).
There appears to be a depth control on high-grade gold and silver;
lead and zinc increase at depth, with a corresponding decrease in
gold and silver. Supergene processes may have resulted in gold and
silver enrichment at surface down to the base of complete
oxidation. The base of the high-grade zone appears to be
approximately 30m below surface, with some variability, and
additional near surface drilling is still required to fully test
the strike length of this high-grade zone.
Deeper historic drilling had also identified zones of elevated
molybdenum with base metals. Future exploration will identify the
relationships between the shallow level high-grade gold and silver
zones, the deeper level molybdenum-base metal zones and the
quartz-feldspar porphyry intrusions. There is evidence to suggest
that the Kizilcukur vein system is developed in the periphery of a
mineralised porphyry body located at depth.
Details of the Kizilcukur Project
The Kizilcukur Project consists of one licence located in the
Balikesir Province in Western Turkey (coordinates: 626150 m E;
4360440 m N). The property lies 22km to the northeast (straight
line) and 50km by road from the Kiziltepe Sector of the Company's
Red Rabbit Project. A royalty will be payable to Dogu Akdeniz
Mineralleri San. ve Tic. Ltd. of 2% Net Smelter Return on
commercial production from the Project. Ariana has the option to
sell the project to Zenit Madencilik San. ve Tic. A.S. (the
operating company for the Kiziltepe Mine) at three times the
exploration cost.
The Project covers an area containing a series of sub-parallel
quartz veins hosted by ophiolitic units that trend northwest and
extend for at least two kilometres. The main vein exhibits classic
low-sulphidation epithermal features and attains a maximum true
width of 8m. The western quartz vein extends over a strike length
of 800m. Composite rock chip sampling of 80m strike along this
quartz vein returned encouraging assay results of 6m at 3.3 g/t
gold, 2m at 9.6g/t gold and 1m at 7.2 g/t gold. The peak rock-chip
assay result in this area was 152 g/t gold and 1,320 g/t
silver.
A JORC Inferred resource of 162,000 tonnes @ 2.39 g/t gold and
48.5 g/t silver has already been established at Kizilcukur based on
17 historic drill holes, as announced by the Company on 29 October
2013. The current drilling programme was designed to test the
near-surface resource potential along strike of the areas
previously tested by drilling. To date 700m of this has been drill
tested. In the future further drilling will be required to test the
full strike length of the vein system and to adequately follow-up
other related geochemical targets generated from exploration work
completed during 2012 and 2013.
Sampling and Assaying Procedures
465 samples were selected based on geological logging of RC
chips during drilling and rock-saw channel sampling, and sent for
assay. All samples from the drilling programme undertaken by Ariana
Resources plc, were prepared and assayed by 30g fire assay, and
ICP-MS multi-element analysis, at the ALS Global preparation
facility in Izmir. Routine re-assaying of all samples assaying
greater than 10 g/t of gold and 100 g/t of silver has also been
completed by ALS Global. Standard, blank and duplicate samples are
being used in the sample batches, which is in line with the
Company's quality control procedures. Laboratory sample
preparation, assaying procedures and chain of custody are
appropriately controlled. The Company maintains an archive of
reference RC chip samples, in addition to all sample pulps and
splits.
Click on, or paste the following link into your web browser, to
view the associated PDF document.
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/1086M_-2016-1-17.pdf
Contacts:
Ariana Resources plc Tel: +44 (0) 20
7407 3616
Michael de Villiers, Chairman
Kerim Sener, Managing Director
Beaumont Cornish Limited Tel: +44 (0) 20
7628 3396
Roland Cornish / Felicity
Geidt
Beaufort Securities Limited Tel: +44 (0) 20
7382 8300
Jon Belliss
Loeb Aron & Company Ltd. Tel: +44 (0) 20
7628 1128
John Beresford-Peirse
IFC Advisory Limited Tel: +44 (0) 20
3053 8671
Tim Metcalfe
Graham Herring
Heather Armstrong
Editor's Notes:
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
selected on the basis of its in-house geological and remote-sensing
database, on its own in western Turkey and in Joint Venture with
Eldorado Gold Corporation in north-eastern Turkey. Eldorado owns
51% of this joint venture and are fully funding all exploration
work on the JV properties, while Ariana owns 49%. The total
resource inventory within this JV is 1.09 million ounces of
gold.
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