29 June 2009
AIM / PLUS Markets: AAU
AGM STATEMENT
Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the gold
exploration and development company focused on Turkey, confirms that
all of the resolutions put to shareholders at the Company's Annual
General Meeting held today were duly passed. The Chairman, Michael
Spriggs made the following comments:
"2008 was a year of significant progress for the Company and we have
maintained the pace of this progress, despite the trying market
conditions which unfolded late last year. Importantly, we have taken
the step of moving from a pure exploration company to an explorer and
developer of gold resources in Turkey.
"We currently hold a gold equivalent JORC resource of over 400,000
ozs and are focusing our development efforts on the Sindirgi and
Tavsan projects in western Turkey. At the Sindirgi Project we
commenced trial mining and processing at Kiziltepe. Also, the recent
sampling at Kepez has provided further encouragement and we are now
planning to drill this prospect. The first production of gold from
the Kiziltepe trial mine was announced to shareholders this morning.
I would like to take the lead in congratulating the team on
achieving this historic milestone. We also wish to thank our trial
mining/processing partners, Eti G�m�s A.S., for their efforts and we
look forward to developing our working relationship further.
Discussions are currently underway for an extension to the initial
trial at Kiziltepe. Moreover, an interest has been expressed by both
parties in working together to formalise a partnership on both the
Sindirgi and Tavsan projects.
"The invaluable experience gained from trial mining has helped your
Company to re-evaluate its strategic options for the development of
the Sindirgi and Tavsan projects. We are currently considering the
parallel development of both projects, whereby high-grade ore is
mined from Kiziltepe and trucked approximately 125km to a heap-leach
at Tavsan. In this sense, the two deposits are considered as a
single integrated project, with a current Measured and Indicated gold
equivalent resource of 230,000 oz at a blended grade of 3.8 g/t Au.
Ariana intends to pursue the advancement of this option via a
feasibility study based on a conceptual production rate of 30,000 oz
per year over 7 years. The Company has provisionally named this
project 'Kizil Tavsan' (Red Rabbit) and will be referred to as such
in future announcements.
"The Company has also taken the strategic decision to re-initiate
innovative grassroots exploration in Turkey, with the primary aim of
making a truly new gold deposit discovery and the secondary aim of
identifying satellite resources for the Red Rabbit project to secure
a project life in excess of 10 years. Ariana's management team
believes that there remains serious opportunity to identify
undiscovered deposits in the region, and your Company is positioning
itself accordingly. Meanwhile, our Joint Venture with European
Goldfields in northeastern Turkey continues to make new discoveries
of its own. The recently identified high-grade Salinbas Target on
the periphery of the Ardala porphyry system demonstrates the merits
of well-funded methodical exploration. The early identification of
prospectivity in the region surrounding the Ardala copper-gold system
by the Ariana team is proof positive of the targeting techniques
employed by your Company, and the success of the Joint Venture
exploration team. We are, therefore, confident of further
exploration success.
"Our intention is to grow your Company through the success of these
new exploration activities and via mine development at our advanced
projects. To achieve the kick-start that this ambitious two-pronged
strategy will require, we will be pursuing an appropriate financing
policy in the months ahead."
Contacts:
Ariana Resources plc Tel: 020 7407 3616
Michael Spriggs, Chairman
Kerim Sener, Managing Director
Beaumont Cornish Limited Tel: 020 7628 3396
Roland Cornish
Lothbury Financial Tel: 020 7011 9411
Michael Padley / Libby Moss
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:
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 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 at www.arianaresources.com.
Ends
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