Ariana Resources PLC New Gold Targets At Karakavak Prospect Of Near-term Production Red Rabbit Gold Project In Turkey
June 05 2015 - 3:10AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMAAU
5 June 2015
AIM: AAU
NEW GOLD TARGETS AT KARAKAVAK
Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the Anglo-Turkish gold
exploration and development company focused on Turkey, is pleased to
announce highly encouraging results from a soil geochemical programme
conducted on the Karakavak prospect at the Kiziltepe Sector of its
advanced near-term production Red Rabbit Gold Project in western Turkey
("Red Rabbit") where fully-financed mine construction will commence
shortly.
Highlights:
-- Five new discoveries included among 12 geochemically anomalous zones for
gold (>20ppb Au) encountered across the prospect area, doubling the
number of drill targets.
-- Several zones are extensive and coherent along strike and are broadly
coincident with anomalous silver in soil results (>150ppb Ag); field
follow-up has confirmed the existence of previously unmapped veins.
-- Existing high-grade rock-chip results from some target areas include:
20.80g/t Au and 33.50g/t Ag, 8.89g/t Au, 3.99g/t Au and 2.60g/t Ag, and
3.54g/t Au and 9.88g/t Ag.
-- Expanded soil X-ray Fluorescence ("XRF") grid identifies new corridor of
potential mineralisation 2km long, extending westwards from historical
gold drill intercepts.
-- Results underpin the broader resource potential of the wider Red Rabbit
Gold Project, which has a current global JORC resource of 475,000 oz of
gold equivalent.
Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented:
"Following successful geochemical work undertaken in 2014, we expanded
our soil geochemical programme to identify new target areas across the
Karakavak prospect. We have now more than doubled the number of drill
targets and identified multiple new veins, which bodes well for future
exploration of the Kiziltepe Sector.
"With 12 targets identified in this one prospect area, five of them
being entirely new, we look forward to initiating a drilling programme
once the Kiziltepe Mine at Red Rabbit enters construction. Based on the
data collected and interpreted so far, we fully expect additional
resources to be defined within a short trucking distance to the planned
processing plant. This has the potential to enhance the life of mine
and indeed economics of our flagship gold project.
"Our exploration over the past 18 months is clearly bearing fruit and
has gained huge significance now that we have received the forestry
approvals for Kiziltepe. We are highly encouraged by the targets that
we have generated and are keen to press on with drill-testing."
Soil geochemical programme
Utilising the soil samples collected previously for XRF analysis, an
area covering the Karakavak and Karakavak South prospects was analysed
by conventional geochemical methods on a 50m by 200m sampling grid.
Gold and other trace elements were analysed following an aqua regia
extraction and ICP-MS or ICP-AES finish. A total of 399 samples were
sent to ALS Global for analysis. An area of 4.2km(2) was covered and
the results for gold and silver are shown in Figure 1.
Twelve significant gold in soil geochemical anomalies over 20ppb Au were
identified, five of which represent new discoveries and are currently
untested. Peak gold in soil results of 334ppb, 263ppb, 196ppb, 152ppb
and 117ppb were encountered. These zones of gold anomalism are also
largely coincident with anomalous silver in soil results (>150ppb).
There also appears to be a silver-rich and gold-poor style of
mineralisation represented in the data, which will need to be followed
up with further fieldwork.
Some of the anomalous areas were previously rock-chip sampled and these
data confirm that much of the mineralisation is associated with
low-sulphidation gold-silver bearing veins. Peak rock-chip grades
across the Karakavak area include: 20.80g/t Au and 33.50g/t Ag, 8.89g/t
Au, 3.99g/t Au and 2.60g/t Ag, 3.54g/t Au and 9.88g/t Ag, 2.77g/t Au and
1.98g/t Ag, and 2.30g/t Au and 8.09g/t Ag. However, the most highly
anomalous area encountered in the soil data appears associated with the
boundary zone between ophiolite and later volcanic rocks. In addition,
a further highly anomalous area to the south corresponds to minor quartz
veins and extensive alteration, which has not previously been sampled.
These two areas will be prioritised for further fieldwork.
In addition to the work outlined above, 1,242 new soil samples were
collected for X-Ray Fluorescence ("XRF") analysis in the Karakavak North
area (Figure 1). This additional sampling was undertaken in order to
expand the existing soil geochemical grid to cover an area in which
extensive quartz vein float had been encountered during the 2014 ground
magnetics programme. The total area covered by this new sampling is
7km(2) and extensive anomalism in various pathfinder elements was
encountered throughout the geochemical grid (Figure 1). In particular,
a major E-W trending structure, which shows evidence of veins and
extensive silicification has been identified, which carries significant
gold mineralisation at its eastern end. Historic drilling results from
this area provided the following intercepts:
KR1-02: 53m @0.4 g/t Au
KR2-02: 143m @ 0.2 g/t Au
Although wide and low grade, these intercepts demonstrate that
substantial flux of gold-bearing fluids occurred in this area. Here and
elsewhere across the prospect area, higher-grade mineralisation is
developed in places on several of the major structures. In addition,
ground magnetic geophysics shows that some vein systems are developed
within corridors of lower magnetic response, possibly corresponding to
zones of alteration. Such corridors, containing veins, silicification
and alteration will require systematic drill-testing in the future.
Karakavak is one of several prospects in the Kiziltepe Sector that
requires drill-testing and is within trucking distance to the planned
Kiziltepe plant (Figure 2).
Figure 1: Gold (>20ppb) and silver (>150ppb) anomalies shown
superimposed on satellite imagery in the Karakavak area. New soil XRF
data for arsenic is shown in the northern part of the prospect area.
Figure 2: Map showing the position of important gold prospects in the
Sindirgi Gold corridor and potential trucking routes from each prospect
to the planned Kiziltepe processing facility. Karakavak is 27km by
graded and asphalt road to Kiziltepe.
Contacts:
Ariana Resources plc Tel: +44 (0) 20 7407 3616
Michael de Villiers, Chairman
Kerim Sener, Managing Director
Beaumont Cornish Limited Tel: +44 (0) 20 7628 3396
Roland Cornish / Felicity Geidt
Beaufort Securities Limited Tel: +44 (0) 20 7382 8300
Saif Janjua
Loeb Aron & Company Ltd. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7628 1128
John Beresford-Peirse / Dr. Frank Lucas
St Brides Partners Ltd Tel: +44 (0) 20 7236 1177
Lottie Brocklehurst / Felicity Edwards
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 Africa, Australia and Europe. 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
developing 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 Eldorado Gold Corporation in
north-eastern Turkey. Eldorado owns 51% of this joint venture and are
fully funding all exploration work on the JV properties, while Ariana
owns 49%. The total resource inventory within this JV is 1.09 million
ounces of gold.
The Company's flagship assets are its Kiziltepe and Tavsan gold projects
which form the Red Rabbit Gold Project. Both 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 and now form part
of a Joint Venture with Proccea Construction Co. The total resource
inventory at the Red Rabbit Project stands at 475,000 ounces of gold
equivalent.
Beaufort Securities Limited and Loeb Aron & Company Ltd. 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.
Glossary of Technical Terms:
"Ag" the chemical symbol for silver;
"Au" the chemical symbol for gold;
"g/t" grams per tonne;
"ICP-AES" Inductively coupled plasma - atomic emission spectroscopy;
"ICP-MS" Inductively coupled plasma - mass spectrometry;
"JORC" the Joint Ore Reserves Committee;
"m" Metres;
"oz" Ounces;
"ppb" Parts per billion;
"XRF" X-ray fluorescence.
Ends
Figures 1 & 2: http://hugin.info/138153/R/1926376/691270.pdf
This announcement is distributed by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions on
behalf of NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely
responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information
contained therein.
Source: Ariana Resources plc via Globenewswire
HUG#1926376
http://www.arianaresources.com/s/Home.asp
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