AAU Ariana Resources Plc

TIDMAAU

Ariana Resources PLC

13 January 2016

13 January 2016

AIM: AAU

ARIANA RESOURCES

LETTER TO SHAREHOLDERS

Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the exploration and development company operating in Turkey, is pleased to announce an open letter to shareholders, which will be posted today on the Company's website at www.arianaresources.com.

Dear Shareholder,

As we welcome you to 2016, we would like to reflect on the significant progress made by the Company during the past year and to provide a glimpse of our future direction. We start the current year with great confidence, having achieved all of our key targets for 2015 and with the understanding that we remain on track for our maiden gold pour during the second half of this year.

The Company is exceptionally well-positioned in relation to many of its peers, holding significant investments in several high-value projects and opportunities. While its primary and most advanced interests remain in Turkey, the Company now has exposure to both Australia (lithium) and Colombia (gold) via agreements with and interests in Dakota Minerals Limited (ASX:DKO) and Royal Road Resources (TSX-V:RYR), respectively.

At our core gold project in Turkey, Red Rabbit, construction is continuing at pace and remains on track for completion during H2 2016, as per previous guidance. Our project partners, Proccea Construction Co., are working hard to deliver the project on time and on budget. The construction phase is being funded through a combination of equity and debt by Proccea and Turkiye Finans Katilim Bankasi A.S., respectively. During February 2016, we expect construction of the process plant to proceed on schedule, with several of the key foundations having already been laid during the past month. Key long-lead equipment from the USA, South Africa and France is expected to shipped in late January. We will provide further interim updates on construction progress during Q1 2016 and guidance on the timing of project completion and commissioning during Q2 2016. In addition, in the coming weeks we will be announcing the results of our recent drilling programme undertaken across several prospects at Red Rabbit.

During 2015, the Company completed a scoping study at its Salinbas Gold Project, of which it holds 49% in a joint venture fully-funded by Eldorado Gold Corp. (TSX:ELD, NYSE:EGO). During the year the joint venture received considerable interest from several companies to potentially acquire the project. However, following the discovery of the 3Moz Hot Maden near the southern boundary of our joint venture licences during 2015, our partners have taken a view to assess the potential of our project to contain other Hot-type orebodies. Consequently, the joint venture will be designing a programme of work to explore the area carefully, whilst at the same time continuing to evaluate any suitable opportunities to crystallise value from the project in the shorter-term.

At the end of the year, we announced a high-value deal involving a cash and shares payment from Dakota Minerals, completed by our 86%-owned Australian subsidiary, Asgard Metals. Asgard was established in 2014 specifically to identify technology-metals opportunities, with a focus on lithium. The deal with Dakota Minerals also involves a 12-month consultancy arrangement in 2016 to identify new project opportunities on their behalf in exchange for a further cash payment. We are pleased to be cooperating with Dakota Minerals on what is proving to be a very exciting commodity opportunity.

In many ways, 2015 was a transformative year for Ariana. As a business, we evolved from a pure exploration and development company focused on Turkey, to one with broader reach and interests. To create the shareholder value we aspire to, we must swim against the tide of existing market conditions and find new and more innovative ways of conducting our business. As this will require more lateral-thinking and a wider reaching strategy, we expect 2016 to mark the birth of Ariana-with-Attitude!

In the meantime, we welcome shareholders to stay updated by visiting our revised website, which we are continuing to develop by adding new functionality and content. We are also engaging with shareholders more extensively through social media and this style of engagement forms part of our new approach towards communication with our shareholders and the broader market.

To keep up to date with Ariana's news, please visit our website:

http://www.arianaresources.com/

Follow Ariana on social Media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/arianaresources

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arianaresources/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ariana-Resources-222692544605246/?ref=hl

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:

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.

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, are presently being assessed as to their economic merits and now form part of a Joint Venture with Proccea Construction Co. The total resource inventory at the Red Rabbit Project stands at 475,000 ounces of gold equivalent.

Beaufort Securities Limited and Loeb Aron & Company Ltd. 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.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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