Year-End Update on Asgard Investments

Ariana Resources PLC

13 November 2023

 

13 November 2023

AIM: AAU

YEAR-END UPDATE ON ASGARD INVESTMENTS

Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the AIM-listed mineral exploration and development company with gold mining interests in Europe, is pleased to provide an update on the 100% owned Asgard Metals Fund ("Asgard") and its associated investments.  Since the update provided in late 2022, Asgard has made two new investments and participated in some additional placings within some of its existing investments; the existing investee companies raised approximately A$5.5m in total during the year to fund their operations.  Please see www.asgardmetals.com.au for more information.

Highlights:

·    Rockover Holdings Limited ("Rockover") - 1.3% held (new position): Rockover is a highly-successful private exploration company operating in Africa, with the Dokwe Gold Project ("Dokwe") as its flagship project near Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (visit: www.rockover.net).

o  Feasibilty-stage Dokwe Project discovered under Kalahari cover containing 1.3Moz gold (JORC Measured, Indicated and Inferred)*, comprising Dokwe North and Dokwe Central.

o  Positive pre-feasibility study completed providing for gold production of 60,000 ounces per annum over 12 years from a single open pit, with potential to increase resources through further exploration.

o  Project exclusivity secured and team on site to complete the detailed investigation of the project including a diamond drilling programme for due diligence ("DD") purposes.

o  Subscription agreement completed for US$250,000 at US$1.25 per Rockover share; funding to enable the DD programme and for general working capital requirements.

o  For the year ended 31 December 2022, Rockover's unaudited Accounts showed a loss before taxation of US$187,042 and total assets of US$18,422,290.

·    Panther Metals Limited (ASX: PNT) - 3.1% held (previously 3.2%): Focused on a major laterite nickel resource at the Coglia Project of 70.6Mt at 0.7% nickel and 460ppm cobalt (JORC Inferred) near Laverton, Western Australia, in proximity to the Glencore-owned Murrin-Murrin nickel operation (announced on 27 June 2022). 

o  Follow-up drilling programme completed at Coglia targeting lateritic mineralisation in the periphery of the Mineral Resource, with new nickel-bearing ground acquired in the vicinity including Marlin, which contains an intercept of 20m at 1.02% Ni from 12m.

o  High-Pressure Acid Leach (HPAL) testwork undertaken on the lateritic nickel-cobalt mineralisation yielding very high nickel (92.6%) and cobalt (73.9%) extraction, from a blended sample at the -38μm size fraction.

o  Exploration underway across several gold projects in the Laverton region including the recent greenfields discovery of the 40 Mile Camp gold prospect with aircore drilling.

·    Annamite Resources Holdings Pte. Ltd. - 6.3% held (previously 5.8%): Focused on a significant porphyry Cu-Au-Mo system discovered at the Sokdee Project in Laos, which returned encouraging scout drilling results in the Namthom and Mouk areas (announced on 21 December 2022).

o  Annamite recently partnered with Rio Tinto Exploration Pty. Ltd. which is injecting US$810,000 this year into further exploration of the project, including geophysics and drilling.

o  Six prospects are now defined within the Sokdee Project after trenching, RC drilling and IP surveys were undertaken in April-July 2023 at the Spine, Palm, Grassy and Mouk targets, to assist with drill target definition.

o  Phase Two drilling completed from July-October 2023, included four holes into the Mouk target as well as one hole at Namthom; full assay results are expected in December 2023.

·    Pallas Resources Limited - 6.0% held (unchanged): Completion of field programmes involving geochemistry and geophysics over nine exploration licences (2,027km²) in Kazakhstan; encouraging results for gold and/or copper observed across all areas and at Sarybastau and Ulkensur in particular.

o  Continuing to develop the portfolio to encompass a variety of high exploration potential metallogenic provinces across Kazakhstan for a number of strategic commodities, including gold, copper, nickel and lithium.

o  Newly acquired exploration licences include Dzhezkazgan East (23km²), Satpaev (90km²) and Southeast Bay (490km²) which lie within the Chu-Sarysu basin, the third largest sediment-hosted copper basin globally.

o  Satpaev which includes historical drilling results of 19m @ 1.1% Cu from surface and 27m @ 1.2% Cu from 14m, otherwise remains poorly explored.

·   Altai Resources Limited - 8.4% held^# (new position): Altai is a majority owned subsidiary of Pallas Resources, which has been established to focus on a major nickel sulphide province in eastern Kazakhstan.

o  Kokpekty Project Area (307km²) hosts multiple targets with surface Ni-Cu occurrences in a geological environment analagous to Norilsk: large-scale concentrations of polymetallic sulphides formed by magma interaction with evaporites.

o  Internationally renowned nickel expert, Dr. Steven Beresford is a founding member of Altai and is responsible for driving the targeting strategy.

o  Investment of £100,000 made into the Altai seed capital round, with £37,500 of agreed consulting input paid in shares*.

* Including Dokwe North and Dokwe Central.

^# Subject to certain regulatory consents in Kazakhstan.

Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented:

"We are very pleased with the dynamism shown by all of our investee companies over the past year despite the challenges presented by the market. Notably, our investee companies successfully raised additional funds both privately and through the capital markets, totalling circa A$5,500,000, which has been a real achievement and stands as a testament to the quality of the teams and their portfolios.  

"During the year, we made certain additional investments in some of our investee companies and welcome adding two new companies to the portfolio, Rockover Holdings, operating in Zimbabwe through a wholly-owned subsidiary, and Altai Resources, operating in Kazakhstan. To date our total investments across the portfolio now amount to approximately A$1,600,000 with a further A$625,000 in agreed consulting input paid or payable in investee company shares. 

"Rockover Holding's project in Zimbabwe represents the most advanced potential project we have investigated to date, having already achieved a positive pre-feasibility outcome, yet with significant exploration upside. Following a week-long site visit undertaken in July, we have now completed a subscription agreement with Rockover to help fund a short drilling programme for our own due diligence purposes, while we consider further involvement in the project. Our team are currently on site and making preparations ahead of the drilling programme.

"A site visit was also undertaken to the Coglia nickel-cobalt project of Panther Metals in June, just as the new drilling programme commenced on the project. This drilling programme was focused on testing the exploration targets defined in the periphery of the JORC Resource identified in 2022 and determining the limits of the lateritic nickel-cobalt horizon. In addition, the 40 Mile Camp gold anomaly area was visited just in advance of a maiden drilling programme which subsequently defined gold mineralisation in the bedrock.

"Recent updates from Annamite have been most encouraging, with a recent deal having been concluded with Rio Tinto Exploration to fund a second drilling programme on the Sokdee copper-gold-molybdenum project. The new drilling programme was recently completed, looking at a number of new targets across the project. Based on the success of recent exploration in Laos, we are planning to work closely with Annamite in the coming months to assist with their goal to achieve an ASX listing during 2024.

"Work on Pallas and Altai was also undertaken to support some of their activities during the year.  Both companies have been successful in securing further prospective ground across multiple mineral provinces in Kazakhstan. Exploration across both portfolios has been highly encouraging and Altai was partially spun out of Pallas, enabling Asgard to participate in its seed capital round. Following a successful geophysical programme and field follow-up with internationally renowned nickel expert, Dr. Steven Beresford, we are engaging with Altai with a view to potentially achieving a stock exchange listing in 2024-5. 

"Further investment opportunities across the existing portfolio are being reviewed in addition to certain other select projects currently under investigation. We have also commenced the provision of commercial consulting input to junior companies independent of investment, as there is now recognition in the market of the broad range of exploration and development skill sets we are capable of bringing to bear on any project. The Company looks forward to updating the market on the Asgard portfolio again in 2024."

Contacts:

Ariana Resources plc	Tel: [phone]
Michael de Villiers, Chairman
Kerim Sener, Managing Director
Beaumont Cornish Limited (Nominated Adviser)	Tel: [phone]
Roland Cornish / Felicity Geidt
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Joint Broker)	Tel: [phone]
John Prior / Hugh Rich / Atholl Tweedie
WHIreland Limited (Joint Broker) Harry Ansell / Katy Mitchell / George Krokos Yellow Jersey PR Limited (Financial PR)	Tel: [phone] Tel: [phone]
Dom Barretto / Shivantha Thambirajah / Bessie Elliot	[e-mail]

Editors' Note:

The information in this announcement that relates to exploration results is based on information compiled by Dr. Kerim Sener BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD, Managing Director of Ariana Resources plc. Dr. Sener is a Fellow of The Geological Society of London and a Member of The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and has sufficient experience relevant to the styles of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity that has been undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined by the 2012 edition of the Australasian Code for the Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code) and under the AIM Rules - Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies.  Dr. Sener consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.

About Ariana Resources:

Ariana is an AIM-listed mineral exploration and development company with an exceptional track-record of creating value for its shareholders through its interests in active mining projects and investments in exploration companies. Its current interests include gold production in Turkey and copper-gold exploration and development projects in Cyprus and Kosovo.

The Company holds 23.5% interest in Zenit Madencilik San. ve Tic. A.S. a joint venture with Ozaltin Holding A.S. and Proccea Construction Co. in Turkey which contains a depleted total of c. 2.1 million ounces of gold and other metals (as at February 2022). The joint venture comprises the Kiziltepe Mine and the Tavsan and Salinbas projects.

The Kiziltepe Gold-Silver Mine is located in western Turkey and contains a depleted JORC Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resource of 222,000 ounces gold and 3.8 million ounces silver (as at February 2022). The mine has been in profitable production since 2017 and is expected to produce at a rate of c.20,000 ounces of gold per annum to at least the mid-2020s. A Net Smelter Return ("NSR") royalty of 2.5% on production is being paid to Franco-Nevada Corporation.

The Tavsan Gold Mine is located in western Turkey and contains a JORC Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resource of 307,000 ounces gold and 1.1 million ounces silver (as at November 2022). Following the approval of its Environmental Impact Assessment and associated permitting, Tavsan is being developed as the second gold mining operation in Turkey and is currently in construction.  A NSR royalty of up to 2% on future production is payable to Sandstorm Gold.

The Salinbas Gold Project is located in north-eastern Turkey and contains a JORC Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resource of 1.5 million ounces of gold (as at July 2020). It is located within the multi-million ounce Artvin Goldfield, which contains the "Hot Gold Corridor" comprising several significant gold- copper projects including the 4 million ounce Hot Maden project, which lies 16km to the south of Salinbas. A NSR royalty of up to 2% on future production is payable to Eldorado Gold Corporation.

Ariana owns 100% of Australia-registered Asgard Metals Fund ("Asgard"), as part of the Company's proprietary Project Catalyst Strategy. The Fund is focused on investments in high-value potential, discovery-stage mineral exploration companies located across the Eastern Hemisphere and within easy reach of Ariana's operational hubs in Australia, Turkey, UK and Zimbabwe.

Ariana owns 75% of UK-registered Western Tethyan Resources Ltd ("WTR"), which operates across south-eastern Europe and is based in Pristina, Republic of Kosovo. The company is targeting its exploration on major copper-gold deposits across the porphyry-epithermal transition.  WTR is being funded through a five-year Alliance Agreement with Newmont Mining Corporation (www.newmont.com) and is separately earning-in to up to 85% of the Slivova Gold Project.

Ariana owns 58% of UK-registered Venus Minerals Ltd ("Venus") which is focused on the exploration and development of copper-gold assets in Cyprus which contain a combined JORC Indicated and Inferred Resource of 17Mt @ 0.45% to 1.10% copper (excluding additional gold, silver and zinc.

Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited and WH Ireland Limited are 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.

 

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