Drilling Report

Ariana Resources PLC
10 January 2006



10 January 2006
AIM: AAU

            WIDE GOLD ZONE DEFINED AT ARZU NORTH, KIZILTEPE PROSPECT
                            SECOND ADJACENT ANOMALY

Ariana Resources plc ('Ariana' or 'the Company'), the gold exploration company
focused exclusively on Turkey, announces further positive results from its
Kiziltepe gold prospect in Balikesir province, western Turkey. A wide zone of
gold mineralisation has been defined along at least 240m of strike length from
channel sampling undertaken on the Arzu North vein.

  * 50m wide gold mineralized envelope defined along at least 240m of strike
    length
  * Intersection of 1.25g/t Au over 17.5m: parallel vein returned peak value
    of 14.2 g/t
  * Adjacent 900m by 300m gold in soil anomaly to be tested

Arzu North Vein
Since November, a field team from the Company's Turkish operating subsidiary,
Galata Madencilik San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti. ('Galata'), has completed a series of
seven trenches across the Arzu North vein which have been channel sampled at
regular 1m intervals, cut using a diamond saw. The channels (up to 55m in
length) were spaced at approximately 40m intervals along a strike length of
240m. All seven channels intersected gold mineralisation within a series of
parallel quartz veins, stockwork material and andesite host rock.

Higher grade gold intercepts include 1.25 g/t over 17.5m, 1.54 g/t over
16.5m,1.44 g/t over 15.6m, 1.23 g/t over 14.6m, and 2.12 g/t over 12.0m (true
thicknesses). The system is open in all directions, with several trenches
terminating in mineralisation. Vein textures and trace element data are
indicative of the upper part of an epithermal system and, supported by historic
drill data, gold grades are expected to increase with depth. Selected
intersections from the Arzu North vein are presented in Table 1 below.

Soil Anomaly & Ceylan Vein
The Arzu North vein occurs immediately to the east of a large gold in soil
anomaly up to 900m long and typically up to 300m wide, as defined by a >100 ppb
gold contour of historical data that was acquired with the Kiziltepe prospect.
Mapping of the area has identified at least one parallel quartz vein (Ceylan
vein). Systematic composite rock-chip sampling across the Ceylan vein and
stockwork, which averages between 1m and 2m in outcrop, has identified
consistent gold mineralisation along 300m of strike length, including a higher
gold grade section averaging 12.6 g/t over 32m of strike length, with a peak
grade 14.2 g/t.

Steven Poulton, Chief Executive, commented:
'The discovery of such a consistent area of gold mineralisation, open in all
directions, in and around the Arzu North vein is very encouraging. Furthermore,
the adjacent large gold in soil anomaly and parallel higher gold grade (up to
14.2 g/t) Ceylan vein provides further evidence of the presence of a significant
gold system at the Kiziltepe prospect.

This find is a further powerful demonstration of the effectiveness of our
exploration approach. Given that we hold 56 licences in Turkey, with exploration
aggressively underway, we are confident that our technology driven methodology
will lead to further discoveries.'

Table 1: Selected channel Intersections from the Arzu North Vein.

Line Number        Intersection Width (m)           Intersection Grade (g/t Au)
AN1                                  5.00                                 1.21
AN4                                 10.00                                 0.78
& AN4                               14.60                                 1.23
AN7                                  8.00                                 1.06
& AN7                               17.50                                 1.25
AN10                                15.60                                 1.44
AN13                                12.00                                 2.12
AN18                                 5.00                                 1.03
& AN18                               8.50                                 1.26
AN19b                               16.50                                 1.54

Notes:
No top cut has been applied to assay results.
Intersection based on a 0.5 g/t cut off grade.

Ahead of commencing the channel sampling programme, Galata obtained all
necessary environmental and forestry approvals from the provincial government in
Balikesir.

A map detailing the results described in this release is available at the
Company's website: www.arianaresources.com.

Contacts:
Ariana Resources plc
Steven Poulton, Chief Executive                 Tel: [phone]
[e-mail]                 Mobile: [phone]

Bankside Consultants
Michael Padley / Susan Scott                    Tel: [phone]

Editors' note:

About Kiziltepe
The Kiziltepe prospect is located within a ten-year renewable operating licence
that forms part of the Company's 100% owned 235km2 Sindirgi gold project in
Balikesir Province, western Turkey. Kiziltepe lies approximately 100km east of
the one million ounce vein-hosted Ovacik gold mine and 115km northwest of the
five million ounce Kisladag gold deposit.

The prospect hosts over 19km in strike length of gold-silver bearing
low-sulphidation epithermal quartz veins across an area of at least 3km by 1km.
Individual veins are exposed for up to 700m and

widths vary between 1m and 14m. The main veins trend NW, dip to the northeast
and are hosted within Miocene age andesitic volcanic rocks.

The majority of exploration work to date has focused on the Arzu vein, where
results from drilling by previous owners include intersections of 7.23 g/t over
10m and 10.55 g/t over 7.5m. Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE & ASX: NEM; TSX:
NMC) retains the right to a royalty of up to 2.5% on future gold production from
Kiziltepe.

Sampling and Assaying Procedures

The Arzu North vein programme consisted of the collection of 350 samples of 1m
in length. Of these, 239 samples returned grades of less than 0.5 g/t Au (69% of
the total), 51 samples between 0.5-1 g/t Au (14.5% of total), 55 between 1-5 g/t
Au (15.5% of total) and 4 samples assayed above 5 g/t Au (1% of total), with a
peak grade of 5.86g/t.

The Ceylan vein programme consisted of the collection of 42 composite rock chip
samples. Of these, 12 samples returned grades of less than 0.5 g/t Au (29.5% of
the total), 8 samples between 0.5-1 g/t Au (19% of total), 15 between 1-5 g/t Au
(36% of total) and 7 samples above 5 g/t Au (16.5% of total), with a peak grade
of 14.2 g/t Au.

All samples have been prepared by the ALS Chemex preparation facility in Izmir
and assayed by fire assay at the ALS Chemex laboratory in Vancouver. Re-assaying
of all samples assaying greater than 10 g/t gold has also been completed by ALS
Chemex. Regular standard, blank and duplicate samples are being used in the
sample sequence in line with the Company's quality control procedures.

Dr Kerim Sener, BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD, is Ariana's Exploration Director. 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 the Northern Territory of
Australia. He has read and approved the technical disclosure in this regulatory
announcement.

About Ariana Resources
Ariana is a technology-driven exploration company focused on the discovery of
multi-million ounce potential epithermal gold-silver and porphyry copper-gold
deposits within the Tethyan metallogenic belt of Turkey. The Company has a
portfolio of prospective licences covering approximately 1,000km2, selected on
the basis of its advanced in-house remote sensing database. Ariana's broker is
Ambrian Partners Limited 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






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