TIDMAAU
RNS Number : 2753N
Ariana Resources PLC
29 September 2021
29 September 2021
AIM: AAU
ASGARD METALS FUND: PROPOSED MAIDEN INVESTMENT
Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the AIM-listed
mineral exploration and development company with joint-venture gold
mining operations in Europe , is pleased to announce the proposed
first investment of the Asgard Metals Fund ("the Fund"), which is
being developed as part of its proprietary Project Catalyst
Strategy.
Highlights:
-- Asgard Metals Fund ("Asgard") to take an interest in Panther
Metals Limited in Australia ("Panther Australia") through an issue
of shares.
-- 1.25 million shares to be granted to Asgard on completion of
the IPO of Panther Australia on the ASX (equivalent to A$250,000),
as provided for under the terms of a Consultancy Agreement.
-- Under the Consultancy Agreement to take effect from IPO, the
Ariana team will provide technical expertise into the design,
implementation and interpretation of the exploration programmes of
Panther Australia over a two-year period.
-- A further subscription for at least 0.25 million shares is
expected via the IPO placing (equivalent to A$50,000).
-- Shares issued to Ariana will be held in a mandatory escrow
for a 2-year period following the IPO of Panther Australia on the
ASX.
-- Panther Australia's IPO anticipated to take place before the end of 2021.
-- Ariana Managing Director, Dr. Kerim Sener, is a director and
shareholder (2.6%) in Panther Metals plc and a director of Panther
Australia, which is currently 77% owned by Panther Metals plc.
Michael de Villiers, Chairman, commented:
"We are very pleased to be taking a position in Panther Metals
Limited in Australia at a significant time in its development and
as it pursues a possible IPO on the ASX. We are also pleased to
note Panther's announcement that, following the completion of
recent airborne geophysics and auger geochemical sampling on its
Merolia Project in Western Australia, Panther has defined a series
of significant gold targets, including the recently discovered 40
Mile Camp anomaly, in a substantially under-explored part of the
prolific Laverton Greenstone Belt. Several multi-million ounce gold
deposits are located in the vicinity and the infrastructure is
substantial, with several processing plants currently running under
capacity. In addition, we are pleased to note the recent definition
of a JORC Exploration Target of 30-50Mt at 0.6-0.8% nickel and
400-600ppm cobalt on its Coglia nickel-cobalt Project at Merolia.
This investment will therefore tick all of our criteria and
satisfies our internal hurdles, in particular providing for further
diversification of our business; not only in terms of reducing
jurisdictional risk but also across commodities, including
strategically significant battery metals."
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by
the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under
the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of
UK Domestic Law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act
2018 ("UK MAR").
Contacts:
Ariana Resources plc Tel: +44 (0) 20 3476 2080
Michael de Villiers, Chairman
Kerim Sener, Managing Director
Beaumont Cornish Limited Tel: +44 (0) 20 7628 3396
Roland Cornish / Felicity Geidt
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited Tel: +44 (0) 20 7886 2500
John Prior / Hugh Rich / Atholl
Tweedie
Yellow Jersey PR Limited Tel: +44 (0) 7951 402 336
Dom Barretto / Joe Burgess / Henry arianaresources@yellowjerseypr.com
Wilkinson
Editors' Notes:
About Panther Metals Limited:
The following information is derived from stock exchange
announcements by Panther Metals plc (principally 21 June 2021, 27
May 2021, 8 July 2020 and 18 June 2020). Panther Metals Limited
("PML") is a majority-owned subsidiary of Panther Metals PLC
(LSE:PALM), and is focused on mineral exploration in Western
Australia and the Northern Territory. PML is presently pursuing a
listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (the "ASX" or "ASX
Exchange").
Western Australia Projects
The Merolia Project ("Merolia") comprises a series of largely
contiguous exploration licences located from 35km to the southeast
of the town of Laverton (population: 340) in the Eastern Goldfields
Province of Western Australia. The area around Laverton includes
several major gold mines, including Granny Smith (3 Moz), Sunrise
Dam (8 Moz) and Wallaby (8 Moz), and many significant gold
deposits. It is one of the most prolific gold producing areas in
Western Australia and is consequently well-serviced by
infrastructure and has a skilled local work-force.
The Archaean greenstone belts in the Laverton region are
dominantly basaltic in composition, containing ultramafic
intercalations, which were subsequently intruded by dolerite dykes
in places and which are particularly prospective for gold and
nickel mineralisation. The areas under licence are partly obscured
by a veneer of partly lateritic transported cover and exploration
in the area has consequently been limited.
Within the eastern part of Merolia are a series of gold
prospects, notably Burtville East, Comet Well and Ironstone.
Regional magnetic data over this part of the project identifies
several NW-SE trending shear systems which have potential to host
gold mineralisation. This potential has been confirmed by surface
geochemical sampling along the 15km long Comet Well gold trend,
which has identified several significant and coherent linear gold
in soil anomalies at Comet South, Comet North, Comet West,
Ironstone and the recently discovered 40 Mile Camp anomaly.
Previous drilling across these prospect areas includes 8m at 6.7
g/t Au at Burtville East and 9m at 46.5 g/t Au at Ironstone. In
addition, historic drilling at Burtville East includes 5m at 27.8
g/t Au and 24m at 8.6g/t Au at Ironstone. The Comet Well area has
not been drilled to date, but contains a series of distinct
sub-parallel 1.25 to 2.5km long NW-trending gold anomalous zones
(gold in soils reaching a peak of 2.6 g/t Au), which yielded
substantial quantities of angular gold nuggets through surface
prospecting. The angular nature of the gold nuggets suggests a
proximal gold source, which will become the focus of further work
in this area.
Approximately 15km to the west of Laverton lies the Red Flag
Project ("Red Flag"). Previous exploration in the area around Red
Flag identified a WNW-trending gold anomalous zone coinciding with
a distinct magnetic low. The geology of the area is dominated by
mafic volcanic rocks intruded by dolerite dykes, displaying sheared
gold mineralised margins in places. This area was drilled, yielding
a best near surface intercept of 2m at 9.20 g/t Au. The licence
area is also significantly prospective for nickel-cobalt sulphide
mineralisation, containing the Mt. Goose and Salimas prospects, and
with several resources identified on adjacent tenements.
Panther has also recently defined a JORC Exploration Target for
nickel and cobalt at the Coglia Project ("Coglia") on the
southernmost area encompassed by the Merolia project tenements.
This target provided a tonnage range of 30-50Mt at 0.6 to 0.8%
nickel and 400 to 600ppm cobalt. The mineralisation is developed
along a lateritic horizon lying above largely ultramafic host rocks
which are themselves mineralised with sulphides in places. It is
expected that Panther will be able to define at least an Inferred
JORC Resource with certain additional drilling and other work at
Coglia.
Northern Territory Projects
The Annaburroo and Marrakai gold projects comprise two granted
licences (EL32140 and EL32121 respectively) covering a total area
of 160km(2) , located from 70km to the southeast of Darwin,
Northern Territory (Figure 1). The projects are situated within the
Palaeoproterozoic Pine Creek Orogen ("PCO"), which hosts over 250
gold occurrences and several operating gold mines. Both licence
areas are close to good infrastructure and the Toms Gully and
Rustlers Roost deposits, which are owned by China Hanking Holdings
Limited. Toms Gully is a high-grade underground mine containing
1.1Mt @ 8.9 g/t Au (0.3 Moz); operations are expected to recommence
following recent EIA approval. Rustlers Roost contains 51Mt @ 1.0
g/t Au (1.6Moz) and is one of the largest gold projects in the
region.
The project areas contain several gold prospects at Donkey Hill,
Johns Reef, Chins Gully and Jasons Rise, some of which have yielded
substantial quantities of gold nuggets, individually up to 30oz in
weight. These prospects have all yielded high-grade gold from grab
samples (e.g. c. 30-60 g/t Au), trenching (e.g. 5m @ 6.68 g/t Au)
and limited RAB or RC drilling (e.g. 2m @ 5.74g/t Au from surface).
In more detail, several NE and NW trending linear features cut the
local geology and may provide control on the distribution of gold
mineralisation. These will be the focus of future ground-based
exploration work. The mineralisation consists largely of sulphidic
quartz veins hosted by banded greywacke and siltstones of the
Finnis River, South Alligator and Mt. Partridge Groups, which are
metamorphosed to lower greenschist facies. It is expected that
Panther will continue to explore and ultimately drill-test several
of these prospect areas during the next few years.
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 July 2020). 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 227,000 ounces gold and 3.7 million ounces silver (as at April
2020). 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 Project is located in western Turkey and
contains a JORC Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resource of
253,000 ounces gold and 0.7 million ounces silver (as at June
2020). The project is being progressed through permitting and an
Environmental Impact Assessment, with the intention of developing
the site to become the second joint venture gold mining operation.
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 is currently earning-in to 75% of Western Tethyan
Resources Ltd ("WTR"), which operates across 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.
Ariana is also earning-in to 50% of UK-registered Venus Minerals
Ltd ("Venus") and has to date earned into an entitlement to 37.5%.
Venus is focused on the exploration and development of copper-gold
assets in Cyprus which contain a combined JORC Inferred Resource of
9.5Mt @ 0.65% copper (excluding additional gold, silver and
zinc).
Ariana operates its wholly-owned Asgard Metals Fund ("Asgard"),
as part of the Company's proprietary Project Catalyst Strategy. The
Fund will be 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 and the UK.
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited is broker to the Company and
Beaumont Cornish Limited is the Company's Nominated Adviser and
Broker.
For further information on Ariana you are invited to visit the
Company's website at www.arianaresources.com .
Ends.
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