Red Rabbit Update

19 April 2010 AIM / PLUS Markets: AAU RED RABBIT UPDATE Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the gold exploration and development company focused on Turkey is pleased to provide a further update from the project partners on the proposed joint venture ("JV") with Proccea Construction Co. ("Proccea") on the Red Rabbit Project in western Turkey. Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented: "On the 18th February 2010 we announced that the Company was in the process of finalising its JV agreement with Proccea.  Various legal and financial issues have required more detailed review and this has taken up some additional time in our schedule.  We are currently in the process of resolving the last remaining items with Proccea and remain fully committed to completing the JV agreement.  While this has slightly delayed the initiation of our planned RC drilling programme and the commencement of the feasibility and environmental impact assessment, we are working hard to ensure we have project start-up by the beginning of May.  I would like to thank our shareholders for their ongoing support of the Company, and I greatly look forward to providing positive news regarding the JV in the near future." Mr. Deniz Aybars, Managing Director, Proccea, commented: "The past few months have been busy and very constructive.  While we have encountered certain unexpected delays, as Dr. Sener has detailed above, we are resolved to complete the JV agreement with Galata Madencilik.  We see this partnership as a platform for further growth as a Turkish-based gold mining company which, unlike many companies of comparable size, includes a fully-fledged and in-house metallurgical process design, construction and mine commissioning capability.  This provides a unique competitive advantage and we hope to expand the scope of the JV company accordingly." Contacts: Ariana Resources plc Michael Spriggs, Chairman Tel: 020 7407 3616 Kerim Sener, Managing Director Beaumont Cornish Limited Tel: 020 7628 3396 Roland Cornish Alexander David Securities Limited Tel: 020 7448 9820 Nick Bealer / David Scott Loeb Aron & Company Ltd Tel: 020 7628 1128 Peter Freeman / Frank Lucas Editors' note: 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 exploring a portfolio of prospective licences selected on the basis of its in-house geological and remote-sensing database, on its own in western Turkey and in Joint Venture with European Goldfields Limited in north-eastern Turkey. The Company's flagship assets are its Sindirgi and Tavsan gold projects.  Both projects 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, are presently being assessed as to their economic merits.  The total resource inventory of the Company stands at 401,000 ounces of gold equivalent. Loeb Aron & Company Ltd. and Alexander David Securities 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 atwww.arianaresources.com < http://www.arianaresources.com/>. About Proccea Proccea  Construction Co. (www.proccea.com) is an integrated construction firm specialising in turn-key solutions for a variety of business sectors ranging from the development of gold processing plants to designing and building major hotels. The mining service is provided by a business division of Proccea name CH Engineering & Consultancy ('CH'). CH provides a range of services to the mining industry, including the design of mining equipment and processing plants, manufacturing installation, commissioning, start-up and staff training for gold and silver extraction in the mining industry (www.chconsultants.com). CH provides the installation and technical services for such gold mining processes as heap leach, CIL and CIP design and operations. CH has wide experience of designing and commissioning gold and silver processing plants. In Turkey this has included the Kisladag gold mine (Eldorado Gold), Copler gold mine (Anatolia Minerals), Mastra gold mine (Koza  Gold) and the Gümüsköy silver mine  (Eti Gümüs). Internationally, CH processing plant commissions have included the Zarcan gold mine in Iran, the Knelson gold mine in Kazakhstan, the Amesmessa gold mine in Algeria, the Kitila gold mine in Finland,  the Minera Triton gold  mine in  Argentina and  the Maaden  gold mine  in Saudi Arabia. CH has the technical support of the internationally renowned Summit Valley Equipment and Engineering firm based in Utah, U.S.A. Ends [HUG#1404779]
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