Kiziltepe Drilling Underway

Ariana Resources PLC
23 August 2006

                             

23 August 2006

AIM: AAU
DRILLING UNDERWAY AT KIZILTEPE GOLD PROSPECT

Ariana Resources plc ('Ariana' or 'the Company'), the gold exploration company
focused exclusively on Turkey, announces the commencement of a 3,700m diamond
drilling programme at the Kiziltepe prospect within the Company's 100% owned
Sindirgi gold project in western Turkey.

   • Drill rig mobilised and phase one of a 3,700m diamond core programme
     underway
   • Previous intersections include 6.29 g/t Au over 13.5m from channel
     sampling at surface
   • Kiziltepe prospect hosts at least 19km in strike length of gold-silver
     bearing quartz veins

A total of 37 drill holes are planned at the Kiziltepe prospect to depths of up
to 150m. The programme has been designed to test the depth and grade
continuation of five principal gold-silver bearing epithermal quartz veins,
namely, Arzu South, Arzu North, Banu, Hale and Vein 5. A key objective of the
current programme is to define an initial gold resource for the Arzu South vein
in compliance with the JORC code. Drilling on the Arzu South vein is expected to
be completed by late November 2006 and initial results announced thereafter.

Ariana acquired the Kiziltepe prospect as part of the Sindirgi gold project from
Newmont Altin Madencilik Limited Sirketi, a subsidiary of Newmont Mining
Corporation (NYSE & ASX: NEM; TSX: NMC) ('Newmont') in January 2005. Newmont
retains a Net Smelter Returns royalty of up to 2.5% on future gold production
from the Sindirgi project.

Independent technical consultants SRK (UK) Limited have previously prepared a
geological model of 150,000 ounces at Arzu South (not a resource as defined by
the JORC code), representing approximately 5% of the known vein system at
Kiziltepe, based on an average gold grade of 4.2 g/t to an approximate depth of
150m.


Steven Poulton, Chief Executive, commented:

'The start of drilling at the Kiziltepe prospect, which hosts over 19km in
strike length of gold-silver bearing epithermal quartz veins, represents a
significant milestone towards defining an initial resource estimate. Our
decision to focus on the Arzu South vein is based on encouraging drilled
intersections reported by previous operators including 7.23 g/t over 10m and
extensive channel sampling by Ariana which returned grades of up to 6.29 g/t Au
over 13.5m.

'With a strong balance sheet from our successful £2 million financing in May
2006, a portfolio of prospective projects and a strong technical team on the
ground, Ariana is extremely well placed to deliver value for its shareholders.'


Contacts:

Ariana Resources plc
Steven Poulton, Chief Executive                            Tel: [phone]
[e-mail]@arianaresources.com    Mobile: [phone]

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


About the Kiziltepe prospect

The Kiziltepe prospect lies within a 36 km2 ten-year renewable operating licence
which forms part of the Company's 100% owned 224 km2 Sindirgi gold project in
Balikesir Province, western Turkey. The project area 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.

Kiziltepe hosts at least 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 at Kiziltepe
has focused on the Arzu South 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.
Channel sampling by Ariana (previously reported in November 2005) returned a
best intersect of 6.29 g/t Au over 13.5m.

Sampling and Assaying Procedures

The drill core will be transported to the Company's core storage facility in the
local town of Sindirgi for logging, splitting and photographing. Half the core
will be prepared as one meter samples and sent to the ALS Chemex preparation
facility in Izmir and a 50g fire assay undertaken at the ALS Chemex laboratory
in Vancouver. Regular standard, duplicate and blank samples are being used in
the sample sequence in line with the Company's quality control procedures.

The drilling program will be managed by Ariana's exploration team under the
supervision of Dr Kerim Sener (Exploration Director) and Mr Muhannad Arar
(Projects Manager). Dr Sener is 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 well funded technology-driven exploration company focused on the
discovery 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 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.



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