AAU Ariana Resources Plc

 
TIDMAAU 
 
   1 December 2014 
 
   AIM: AAU 
 
   SIGNIFICANT GOLD TARGET AT KEPEZ WEST 
 
   Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the gold exploration 
and development company focused on Turkey, is pleased to announce a 
resource target* on a zone of mineralisation delineated at the Kepez 
West prospect ("Kepez West") following the analysis of geophysical and 
geochemical data.  Kepez West is one of several highly prospective 
targets within the Kiziltepe Sector of the Red Rabbit Project ("Red 
Rabbit"), which is targeted to commence gold production in 2015.  The 
Company holds a 73.5% interest in Red Rabbit in joint venture with 
Proccea Construction. 
 
   Highlights: 
 
 
   -- Resource target of 100,000 oz gold* established over a 1,800m x 200m zone 
      across Kepez West and Far West. 
 
 
   -- Drilling planned to test the potential of the area to host open-pittable 
      gold resources. 
 
 
   -- Previous drilling at the eastern-end of Kepez West provided an intercept 
      of 9.6m @ 3 g/t Au + 119 Ag g/t from near surface. 
 
 
   -- Significant gold anomalism occupies a distinct ENE-oriented geophysical 
      trend that coincides precisely with a corridor of intense alteration. 
 
 
   -- IP/Resistivity geophysics reinforces the potential for down-dip 
      continuation of mineralisation, which is partly obscured by thin cover. 
 
 
   Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented: 
 
   "Our confidence in the Kiziltepe Sector to host additional resources has 
continued to improve as we have enhanced our understanding of the region 
and drawn comparisons with analogous deposits worldwide.  Notably, the 
similarities between Kiziltepe and the Pajingo gold-silver mine in 
Queensland, Australia, are striking.  Such an example bodes 
exceptionally well for the future of our Kiziltepe Mine and underpins 
our logic of fully testing all surrounding prospect areas to better 
define the scale of the resource potential. 
 
   "Our recent exploration efforts have further highlighted the scope for 
the Kepez West prospect to provide for an enlarged resource base.  This 
area may host mineralisation of the same style and grade as that at our 
primary reserve at Arzu South, which is located only 5km away. 
Consequently, we have established a resource target at this location of 
100,000 oz gold* for exploration planning and will look to prioritise 
this area for drill-testing.  Confirmation of such a resource would 
potentially double our mineable resources for the Kiziltepe Sector." 
 
   * The target is an internal management target, which has not been 
subject to independent verification or reporting under an acceptable AIM 
Standard and should therefore not be relied upon by investors. 
 
   Kepez West Description 
 
   Mineralisation at Kepez West occurs within an ENE-trending zone of 
argillic alteration and silicification associated with low-sulphidation 
stockwork veins hosted by dacitic volcanic rocks, with higher-grade 
mineralisation restricted to massive quartz veins which probably occupy 
E-W trends.  Previous surface sampling in the area has identified 
several highly anomalous outcrop and float samples including 14.5 g/t Au 
+ 39 g/t Ag, 9.7 g/t Au + 68 g/t Ag, 6.3 g/t Au + 32 g/t Ag, 5.9 g/t Au 
+ 24 g/t Ag and 4.3 g/t Au + 30 g/t Ag (announced 23 September 2013). 
 
   In 2012, limited initial drilling in the area (eight holes totalling 
478.3m) returned an intercept of 9.6m @ 3.0 g/t Au + 119 g/t Ag from 
2.7m down-hole at the eastern-end of the Kepez West prospect in hole 
KPZ-D08-12.  Three other holes from the same drilling programme 
encountered anomalous gold mineralisation (0.4 to 0.8 g/t Au) with 
silver up to about 12 g/t over greater than 1m intervals, occurring 
broadly within the same mineralised trend.  Core logging showed that the 
mineralisation is contained within a 1,800m x 200m fault zone which also 
displays extensive argillic alteration.  This zone may represent the top 
of a vein system, which is partly obscured by a relatively thin layer of 
unconsolidated cover rocks. 
 
   The Company has partial IP/Resistivity geophysics coverage over the vein 
system at Kepez West, in addition to ground magnetics, and these 
datasets are useful for the definition of drilling targets (Figure 1). 
This data was integrated with field mapping and geochemistry datasets 
and this process has highlighted the potential for the vein system to be 
more extensive than the area drill-tested to date.  In particular an 
area to the west of Kepez West (referred to as Kepez Far West) has 
returned several high-grade rock chip results.  The mineralised and 
altered zone appears to occupy a broadly ENE and partly arcuate trend, 
which may be associated with a concentric structure developed on the 
margin of a possible volcanic caldera. 
 
   Comparison of the current status of the Kepez West prospect area to the 
status of the Arzu South vein system at Kiziltepe during its earliest 
stage of exploration highlights several similarities (Figure 1).  The 
extent, style and grades of the mineralisation and types of alteration 
are very similar.  In particular, both prospects show a structurally 
controlled corridor of arsenic (indicating mineralisation) and potassium 
enrichment and manganese depletion (indicating alteration), which 
coincides with significant gold and silver anomalism.  Collectively, 
this suggests that Kepez West holds significant resource potential, and 
possibly of an order similar to that at Arzu South and North combined 
(115,000 oz Au). 
 
   The Company is planning further work in this area to better define the 
limits of the gold mineralisation and to refine the location and 
orientation of principle mineralised structures.  The high gold grades 
encountered in places and the scale of the alteration footprint 
indicates the potential for a significant gold system.  The Company is 
now planning further exploration and drilling in order to determine the 
potential of this area to contain an open-pittable gold resource. 
 
   Figure 1: Soil XRF geochemical map of the Kepez West area, showing 
manganese concentration in ppm, rock-chip gold grades and previous 
drilling locations.  Superimposed on this map are the major zones of 
arsenic anomalism.  Note that the zones of manganese depletion coincide 
with the zones of arsenic anomalism and with areas from which gold and 
silver bearing quartz veins have been mapped or inferred.  Inset is a 
map of the Arzu South and Arzu North vein system at Kiziltepe which is 
rotated to a similar structural orientation as Kepez West for more 
direct comparison.  The greater detail shown in the XRF geochemical grid 
at Kiziltepe is due to a much higher sample density at Kiziltepe than at 
Kepez West. 
 
   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 
Saif Janjua 
 
Loeb Aron & Company Ltd.                 Tel: +44 (0) 20 7628 1128 
John Beresford-Peirse / Dr. Frank Lucas 
 
St Brides Media & Finance Ltd            Tel: +44 (0) 20 7236 1177 
Susie Geliher / Lottie Brocklehurst 
 
 
 
   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 Southern Africa and Australia.  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. 
 
   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. 
 
   Ends 
 
   Significant Gold Target at Kepez West: 
http://hugin.info/138153/R/1875466/660876.pdf 
 
   This announcement is distributed by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions on 
behalf of NASDAQ OMX 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 
 
   HUG#1875466 
 
 
  http://www.arianaresources.com/s/Home.asp 
 

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