Further re exploration

Ariana Resources PLC 16 February 2006 16 February 2006 AIM: AAU FURTHER POSITIVE RESULTS FROM LATEST EXPLORATION Ariana Resources plc ('Ariana' or 'the Company'), the gold exploration company focused exclusively on Turkey, announces positive results from its generative exploration programme on the Company's Kosedere and Cinarpinar licences in Canakkale Province, western Turkey. These licences lie 165km to the west of Ariana's Sindirgi licence area, where the Company recently announced encouraging rock-chip channel sample gold values on its Kepez prospect. In this latest programme, reconnaissance samples of rock 'float' collected from streams have returned grades of up to 6 g/t gold, and elsewhere anomalous copper and other base metal mineralisation has been identified. * Series of stream quartz 'float' samples return 6.1 g/t Au, 4.0 g/t Au and 2.2 g/t Au * Reconnaissance rock chip samples of 0.19% Copper and 0.25% Zinc * 57km2 exploration area targeted by the Company's remote sensing programme Between December and January, a field team from the Company's Turkish operating subsidiary, Galata Madencilik San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti., undertook reconnaissance exploration on two 100% owned contiguous licences at Kosedere and Cinarpinar (57km2) in Canakkale Province, western Turkey. The licence areas were selected on the basis of their geological prospectivity and co-incident kaolinite and alunite signatures, minerals whose presence are indicative of epithermal or porphyry related mineralised systems, as determined by the Company's remote-sensing study. The reconnaissance exploration programme consisted of geological mapping, stream-sediment, rock-chip and soil sampling, in order to prioritise areas for detailed follow-up. A map detailing the results described in this release is available at the Company's website: www.arianaresources.com. Quartz vein 'float' samples, collected from stream beds in the north eastern part of the Cinarpinar licence, showed a variety of textures indicative of epithermal gold mineralisation systems including colloform to crustiform varieties. These samples returned peak gold values of 6.1 g/t Au, 4.0 g/t Au and 2.2 g/t Au. In the western part of the Kosedere licence, prospecting has identified significant base metal anomalies, with peak results of 343 ppm copper and 699 ppm zinc in soil samples, in addition to values of 1,865 ppm copper (0.19% Cu) and 2,510 ppm zinc (0.25 % Zn) in rock-chip samples. Steven Poulton, Chief Executive, commented: 'We are pleased to report further grassroots success from our continuing generative exploration programme. The discovery of high gold grades in quartz float samples, potentially derived from within our licence areas, as well as the identification of anomalous copper, lead and zinc, suggests the presence of a significant mineralised system. Yet again, this provides a powerful demonstration of the capability of our modern exploration approach. 'In line with our growth strategy, and to accelerate exploration across our portfolio of properties, we have recently doubled the size of our exploration team, which now includes eight Turkish geologists.' Contacts: Ariana Resources plc Steven Poulton, Chief Executive Tel: 01235 511 767 s.j.poulton@arianaresources.com Mobile: 0797 408 6712 Bankside Consultants Michael Padley / Susan Scott Tel: 020 7367 8888 Editors' note: Sampling and Assaying Procedures A total of 123 '-80 mesh' stream-sediment, 51 rock-chip, and 30 soil samples were collected. All samples have been prepared by the ALS Chemex preparation facility in Izmir and assayed by fire assay and ICP-MS at the ALS Chemex laboratory in Vancouver. 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 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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