Ariana Resources PLC Ariana Resources Plc : New Vein Extensions Identified At Kiziltepe
January 30 2017 - 2:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMAAU
30 January 2017
AIM: AAU
NEW VEIN EXTENSIONS IDENTIFIED AT KIZILTEPE
Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the gold exploration
and development company operating in Turkey, is pleased to announce
further results from its Phase Two drilling programme of 2016, completed
during early December at the Kiziltepe Project. Kiziltepe is part of
the Red Rabbit Joint Venture with Proccea Construction Co. and will be
50% owned by Ariana once the mine is operational in Q1 2017.
Highlights:
-- 125m vein extension tested at Banu with several near surface results
including 3m @ 3.36 g/t Au + 95.4 g/t Ag, 5m @ 1.88 g/t Au + 41.8 g/t Ag
and 4m @ 1.16 g/t Au + 24.9 g/t Ag.
-- Best individual intercept at Banu is 1m @ 7.95g/t Au + 170g/t Ag, which
along with a previous intercept at Fidan of 4.75m @ 4.26 g/t Au + 65.2
g/t Ag demonstrates the potential for high grades within the
south-eastern end of the Kiziltepe vein system.
-- New silver-rich vein extension discovered at Arzu Far South, with
intercepts including 8m @ 0.82 g/t Au + 60.4 g/t Ag, 2m @ 1.35 g/t Au +
64.6g/t Ag and 3m @ 0.72 g/t Au + 41.2 g/t Ag.
-- Further exploration required on several other zones of mineralisation
within the Banu, Fidan and Arzu Far South areas.
Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented:
"Adding a further 125m to the mineralised vein strike at Banu
potentially represents a meaningful addition to our resource at this
locality. The grades encountered over at least 75m of this additional
vein strike demonstrate the potential for extraction from an extended
open-pit. Meanwhile, at Arzu Far South we have discovered a vein array
which is highly anomalous in gold and particularly silver, which appears
to represent the top of the system. Further drilling, targeting greater
depths, may be warranted in this area.
In addition, previous high-grade drilling results from the Fidan Vein
require further investigation in the context of the Arzu Far South
discovery. Notably a single shallow intercept of 4.75m @ 4.26 g/t Au
and 65.2 g/t Ag from 5.7m depth, which occurs between Fidan and Arzu Far
South must be followed-up as a priority. Also a 250m long high-grade
vein system sampled and mapped at Banu West still requires drill
testing."
Drilling Programme
As part of the 2016 Phase Two drilling programme at Kiziltepe, 904
meters of exploration drilling was undertaken within the Arzu Far South
area. A further 260 meters was used to extend the test the southern
extension of the Banu vein for an additional 125 meters along strike.
All drilling was conducted by Spektra Jeotek San. ve Tic. A.S. and
supervised by the Ariana exploration team, and team members from
Ariana's Turkish subsidiary, Galata Madencilik San. ve Tic. Ltd.
("Galata").
The drilling undertaken on the southern end of Arzu South followed the
completion of high resolution 1:500 scale geological mapping in and
around the Kiziltepe mine site. After top soil removal was completed as
part of the construction of the Arzu South pit entry ramp, several clay
alteration corridors containing sporadic vein material were identified
on the flanks of Arzu South. This led to the mapping of two new
alteration trends within the Arzu Far South area. Both trends were
targeted in drilling for possible mineralised extensions of the Arzu
South vein system.
Drilling of these structures provided best intercepts including 8m @
0.82g/t Au + 60.4 g/t Ag, 2m @ 1.35 g/t Au + 64.55 g/t Ag and 3m @
0.72g/t g/t Au + 41.17 g/t Ag. The larger of the two structures was
tested to approximately 100 vertical meters below surface where gold
results were relatively low but silver grades in several places exceeded
100 g/t Ag over one meter.
550 meters west of the Arzu Far South mineralisation, five new RC drill
holes totalling 260 meters was drilled into the southernmost extents of
the Banu vein. All five holes intercepted quartz vein mineralisation,
testing 125 meters of new vein strike to depths of 55 meters and 25
meters below the surface. Best intercepts include 3m @ 3.36 g/t Au +
95.40 g/t Ag, 5m @ 1.88 g/t Au + 41.80 g/t Ag (including 1m @ 7.95 g/t
Au + 170 g/t Ag) and 4m @ 1.16 g/t Au + 24.95 g/t Ag.
Following these results, revisions to the resource estimate for the Banu
vein will be undertaken. Banu currently contains a JORC 2004 Measured
and Indicated Resource of 158,000t @ 2.3 g/t Au + 53 g/t Ag for 11,700
oz gold + 272,000 oz silver. Historic drill intercepts at Banu include
21m @ 1.59 g/t Au + 36.71 g/t Ag, 11m @ 2.07 g/t Au + 43.70 g/t Ag and
12m @ 1.20g/t Au + 32.58 g/t Ag.
Surrounding the Banu and Arzu Far South veins are several mineralised
zones that largely remain untested by drilling. At Banu West, a 250m
vein measuring 0.7-2m in width returned significant surface rock-chip
results including 3.3 g/t Au + 4.8 g/t Ag, 2.1 g/t Au + 20.7 g/t Ag and
1.6 g/t Au + 2.6 g/t Ag.
Between the Banu and Arzu Far South veins, a series of
stockwork-dominant vein zones at Fidan have been mapped and drill tested
to a maximum depth of 120m below the surface. Previous drilling
identified several encouraging intercepts from the Fidan area, including
4.75m @ 4.26 g/t Au and 65.2 g/t Ag (from 5.7m), 4m @ 2.59 g/t Au +
38.25 g/t Ag, 4m @ 1.23 g/t Au + 2.9 g/t Ag and 2m @ 2.01 g/t Au + 7.40
g/t Ag.
Detailed mapping, sampling and exploration drilling at the Arzu Far
South, Banu and Fidan veins and several surrounding vein systems is
demonstrating the potential for new resource targets at Kiziltepe.
Significant additional work will be required to continue the exploration
and development of these vein systems and to confirm their resource
potential.
Table 1: Significant RC drilling results from the 2016 programme at
Arzu Far South and Banu, arranged in order of the gram x metre
intercepts (down-hole gold equivalent grade multiplied by intercept
thickness). The intercepts reported in this table are the down-hole
lengths. Intercept grades have been calculated using a 0.5 g/t Au
minimum cut-off with up to 2m internal waste allowed.
Grade Grade
From Interval Au Ag
Hole ID Vein (m) To (m) (m) (g/t) (g/t) Notes
KTP-RC55-16 Banu 61 64 3 3.36 95.40
Including
1m @
7.95g/t
Au +
170g/t
KTP-RC54-16 Banu 32 37 5 1.88 41.80 Ag
KTP-RC30-16 Arzu FS 79 87 8 0.82 60.40
KTP-RC56-16 Banu 20 24 4 1.16 24.95
KTP-RC34-16 Arzu FS 27 29 2 1.35 64.55
KTP-RC32-16 Arzu FS 29 32 3 0.72 41.17
KTP-RC30-16 Arzu FS 100 103 3 0.66 16.97
KTP-RC32-16 Arzu FS 29 31 2 0.90 50.25
KTP-RC57-16 Banu 30 32 2 0.70 15.35
KTP-RC31-16 Arzu FS 9 10 1 1.31 49.70
KTP-RC36-16 Arzu FS 60 61 1 1.00 2.90
Figure 1: See below for map of the SE end of the Kiziltepe vein system,
showing the limits of the pit outlines at Arzu South and Banu. The
positions of all new and historic drill collars are shown, with drill
traces and intercept locations identified for several recent holes.
Drill holes identified by a * have been reported previously.
Sampling and Assaying Procedures
359 samples were selected based on geological logging of RC chips during
drilling 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
laboratory 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.
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
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited Tel: +44 (0) 20 7886 2500
Adam James / Tom Salvesen
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 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" Silver
"Au" Gold
"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;
"JORC" the Joint Ore Reserves Committee;
"JORC 2004" is the previous edition of the JORC Code, which was
published in 2004. It has been superseded by JORC 2012;
"m" Metres
"Measured resource" a part of a Mineral Resource for which tonnage,
densities, shape, physical characteristics, grade and mineral content
can be estimated with a high level of confidence. It is based on
detailed and reliable exploration, sampling and testing information
gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops,
trenches, pits, workings and drillholes. The locations are spaced
closely enough to confirm geological and grade continuity.
"oz" Ounces
"t" Tonnes
Ends
Figure 1: http://hugin.info/138153/R/2074198/779756.pdf
This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf
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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
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 30, 2017 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)
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