Drilling Results

14 February 2008 AIM / PLUS Markets: AAU POSITIVE DRILLING RESULTS: KIZILTEPE Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the gold exploration company focused on Turkey, announces the results from the seven most recent Reverse Circulation (RC) drill holes completed on the Banu Vein at the Kiziltepe gold prospect. The results show the potential for resource additions to be derived from veins other than the Arzu South and North vein system at the Kiziltepe prospect within the Sindirgi Project. Highlights * Gold-equivalent intersections of 3.81 g/t over 6m, 3.78 g/t over 5m and 2.58g/t Au over 7m * Follow-up drilling on Banu Vein scheduled for late February * Drilling programme to be extended to drill new targets The Banu Vein has a strike length of 750m and has the most uniform grade at surface of all the veins at the Kiziltepe prospect. For 550m of surface sampled strike length, the vein carries a fairly consistent grade of approximately 2-3 g/t Au over a true average width of 2.5m. Evidence from both the new and previous drilling indicates an improvement in grade at depth and along strike to the southeast. The latest drilling has confirmed the distribution of gold and silver grade along a greater strike length than that tested and reported on in 2007. Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented: "The recent drilling on the Banu Vein has confirmed our expectations of the mineralisation at this location and we expect that an initial JORC compliant resource will be established here soon. We have scheduled further drilling to start in late February, which will test a 200m strike extension of the vein that has only been channel sampled to date. This additional drilling is now warranted to confirm the potential of this vein to yield a viable resource. "The Company has also taken the decision to extend the diamond drilling programme by up to 1,500m to test new target areas on the Kiziltepe prospect, whilst the economic options for Kiziltepe are being evaluated. This extended drilling is additional to the 2,500m announced last month. Geophysical testing is also underway to assist in the definition of possible 'blind' targets and will be used more extensively if the geophysical results are proven positive by drilling. "These results further support our expectation that the Sindirgi Project will prove to be economic and we will update the JORC resource figures at the end of the first quarter". Details of Programme A field team from the Company's Turkish operating subsidiary, Galata Madencilik San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti., supervised the completion of seven RC drill holes (114.3 mm diameter) on the Banu Vein. The holes reported in this release totalled 655m. They were drilled to depths of between 60 and 134 metres and angled at 60-70 degrees along a 300m section of vein strike length. Quartz veins, other mineralised structures and stockwork were located in all seven holes drilled in this programme. Selected intersections are given in Table 1 below. Table 1: RC drill hole intersection data from the Banu Vein: Gold Silver Au + Hole Easting Northing From To Apparent Width (Au (Ag Au (m) (m) (m) g/t) g/t) equiv. (g/t) RC28-07 607390 4348094 7 8 1 0.56 0.60 0.57 33 35 2 2.87 74.45 4.36 RC29-07 607368 4348112 42 48 6 2.16 82.68 3.81 50 51 1 0.78 26.50 1.31 RC30-07 607348 4348153 58 59 1 0.76 21.60 1.20 62 63 1 0.70 42.80 1.55 63 67 4 2.70 59.58 3.89 RC31-07 607323 4348191 70 71 1 0.50 10.50 0.71 74 79 5 2.40 69.14 3.78 RC32-07 607301 4348229 107 114 7 1.43 57.74 2.58 RC33-07 607282 4348275 No significant result RC34-07 607265 4348304 26 28 2 1.58 2.70 1.63 66 69 3 1.47 69.50 2.86 Notes: No top cut has been applied to assay results Intersections based on a 0.5 g/t cut off grade Weighted averages have been calculated for core recovery and gold/silver grades Au + Au equiv. g/t is the sum of the gold grade and the gold equivalent grade of silver based on a gold/silver price ratio of approximately 1:50 Sampling and Assaying Procedures Ariana considers that the RC drilling method is applicable to this style of mineralisation due to physical differences between mineralised and unmineralised material and the high recoveries achieved through fractured ground. SRK determined that there is no particular bias between RC and previous diamond drilling results on the veins at Kiziltepe, and that the RC drilling data will contribute to a revised mineral resource estimate. To date 188 RC chip samples from the drilling programme on the Banu Vein were sent for assay. Of these, 153 samples have returned grades of less than 0.5 g/t Au (81% of the total), 8 samples between 0.5-1 g/t Au (4% of total), 26 between 1-5 g/t Au (14% of total) and 1 samples above 5 g/t Au (less than 1% of total), with the peak grade at 5.83 g/t Au and 115 g/t Ag. All samples from the drilling programme undertaken by Ariana Resources plc. have been prepared by the ALS Chemex preparation facility in Izmir and assayed by 30g fire assay at the ALS Chemex laboratory in Romania. Routine re-assaying of all samples assaying greater than 10 g/t Au and 100 g/t Ag has also been completed by ALS Chemex. 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: 020 7407 3616 | |----------------------------------+--------------------| | Michael Spriggs, Chairman | | |----------------------------------+--------------------| | Kerim Sener, Managing Director | | |----------------------------------+--------------------| | | | |----------------------------------+--------------------| | Beaumont Cornish Limited | Tel: 020 7628 3396 | |----------------------------------+--------------------| | Roland Cornish | | |----------------------------------+--------------------| | | | |----------------------------------+--------------------| | Bankside Consultants | Tel: 020 7367 8888 | |----------------------------------+--------------------| | Michael Padley / Louise Davis | | |----------------------------------+--------------------| | | | |----------------------------------+--------------------| | Loeb Aron & Company Limited | Tel: 020 7628 1128 | |----------------------------------+--------------------| | Peter Freeman / Frank Lucas | | |----------------------------------+--------------------| | | | |----------------------------------+--------------------| | City Capital Corporation Limited | Tel: 020 7842 5867 | |----------------------------------+--------------------| | Charles Dampney | | |----------------------------------+--------------------| | | | |----------------------------------+--------------------| | King & Shaxson Capital Limited | Tel: 020 7426 5986 | |----------------------------------+--------------------| | | | +-------------------------------------------------------+ 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 the Kiziltepe prospect The Kiziltepe prospect is located within a ten-year renewable operating licence that forms part of the Company's 100% owned 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 mine. The prospect hosts over 20km 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 northwest, dip to the northeast and are hosted within Miocene age dacitic volcanic rocks. Ariana acquired the Sindirgi Gold Project from Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE & ASX: NEM; TSX: NMC) in March 2005. Newmont retains the right to a royalty of up to 2.5% on future gold production from the Sindirgi gold project. Ahead of commencing the drilling programme, Ariana obtained all necessary environmental and forestry approvals from the provincial government in Balikesir and the State Government in Ankara. About Ariana Resources Ariana is a dynamic exploration company focused on the discovery and development of epithermal gold-silver and porphyry copper-gold deposits with multi-million ounce potential within the Tethyan metallogenic belt of Turkey. The Company has a portfolio of prospective licences selected on the basis of its advanced in-house remote sensing database. The Company's flagship asset is the Sindirgi Gold Project, which targets a series of prospects, within a prolific mineralised district in western Turkey. The project hosts over 45km of gold-silver bearing epithermal quartz veins. Loeb Aron & Company Limited, City Capital Corporation Limited and King & Shaxson Capital 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. Ends ---END OF MESSAGE---
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