TIDMAAU
RNS Number : 2523E
Ariana Resources PLC
17 October 2018
17 October 2018
AIM: AAU
EXCELLENT RESULTS FROM SALINBAS GOLD PROJECT
Salibas Main Target Extended Over 500m Strike to the North
Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the
exploration and development company operating in Turkey, is pleased
to announce the results of recent exploration and development work
at the Salinbas Gold Project ("Salinbas" or "the Project").
Salinbas is located in the Hot Gold Corridor and is 100% owned by
Ariana through its shareholding in Greater Pontides Exploration
B.V. ("GPE").
Highlights:
-- Composite channel-sampling over the Salinbas Main Extension
target returned 38m @ 2.34g/t Au + 6.63g/t Ag, including 4m @
3.66g/t Au + 8.50g/t Ag.
-- Rock-chip sampling of the Ardala area during trial mining
returned excellent grades including 3.48g/t Au + 1.5g/t Ag, 2.82g/t
Au + 1.4g/t Ag and 2.33g/t Au + 48g/t Ag + 0.2% Cu + 3.7% Zn.
-- Steeply plunging breccia-pipe style of mineralisation (akin
to Hot Maden) emanating from the Ardala porphyry, occurs in
proximity to Salinbas, as noted in drill core.
-- Initial 2,000m Reverse Circulation ("RC") drilling programme
to test part of the JORC Exploration Target area; drilling
scheduled to commence Q2 2019.
-- Trial mining produced over 5,000 tonnes of mineralised
material from the Ardala porphyry, which has been stockpiled on
site.
-- Approximately 4.4km of roads built or upgraded to accommodate
the trial mining work and future drilling programmes.
Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented:
"We have now successfully demonstrated that exceptional gold
mineralisation continues to the immediate north of the Salinbas
deposit over c.500m of strike, as predicted by our new geological
model and the JORC Exploration Target which we defined in June this
year. Furthermore, additional rock-chip sampling within and near
the Ardala porphyry during trial mining undertaken during 2018, has
continued to reaffirm our understanding that this area represents a
significantly gold enriched porphyry system. Further work will be
required to determine if there are other gold-rich porphyry
intrusions or breccia-pipes within the broader Ardala Intrusive
Complex, which potentially underlie part of the Salinbas deposit
itself. Our next phase in the drilling programme comprises 2,000m
of RC scheduled for Q2 2019, funded utilising existing cash and
operational cash flow."
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes
of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.
Exploration Programme
During the 2018 field season, the Ariana exploration team
completed a rock-chip and channel-sampling programme which was
designed to increase confidence in certain targets identified for
the Company's pending drilling programme. A total of 166 samples
were submitted to ALS Global in Izmir for fire assay and ME-ICP
analysis.
The objectives of the work completed included: 1)
channel-sampling over the Salinbas Main Extension JORC Exploration
Target, defined earlier in the year (see release dated 28 June
2018); 2) Rock-chip sampling within the Ardala Creek, where highly
altered porphyry-limestone contacts were mapped in late 2017; 3)
Rock-chip sampling of outcropping silica-pyrite sheeted veins
within the porphyry exposed at the Ardala Porphyry Valley floor,
within an area selected for trial mining (discussed further
below).
The Salinbas Main Extension JORC Exploration Target was defined
along with two other major targets (Salinbas North and Salinbas
South), from the results of comprehensive local and regional
mapping, re-logging of over 7,800m of diamond drill core, and
extensive soil-sampling which returned more than 20 samples
exceeding 1g/t Au to a peak of 3.09g/t Au + 5.88g/t Ag (announced
on 7 December 2017). The recently completed channel-sampling work
discussed here was designed to complement the soil-sampling and
test exposures along a primary access track to Salinbas, which
partially cross-cuts the defined target in three areas. A total of
102, composite samples, typically 2m in length, were taken from
these three track exposures, which defines a possible 500m long
extension of the Salinbas deposit to the north.
Exposure 1 defines a 62m stretch of previously un-sampled road
cut which exposes intense haematitic and limonitic altered subcrop
and weathered quartz-eye porphyry, returned continuous
mineralisation with a best continuous intercept of 38m @ 2.34g/t Au
+ 6.63g/t Ag; including 4m @ 3.66g/t Au + 8.5g/t Ag. An additional
exposure (Exposure 3), 450m east of Exposure 1, also returned
almost continuous mineralisation, though is of lower grade but of
greater width. The best continuous mineralisation in this area
returned 69m @ 0.42g/t Au and 0.8g/t Ag. These results add
significant confidence to the 2018 Salinbas geological model and
the recently defined JORC exploration targets which outlined
potential for up to an additional 2.7Moz gold and 16.1Moz silver on
the Project.
Significant exposures of altered limestone in contact with the
Ardala porphyry within the Ardala Creek valley, returned further
significantly anomalous multi-element results including: 2.33g/t Au
+ 48g/t Ag + 0.2% Cu + 3.7% Zn. A sample taken here during the 2017
mapping campaign returned 11.2g/t Au + 131g/t Ag + 3.2% Cu + 0.7%
Zn. This latest infill sampling tests additional exposures of the
altered contact material along strike to assist the drill planning
process currently being completed by the exploration team.
Infill sampling along steam gullies and lithological contact
exposures within the Ardala Porphyry Valley floor, in areas
suitable for trial mining provided robust indications of
mineralisation including: 3.48g/t Au + 1.5g/t Ag, 2.82g/t Au +
1.4g/t Ag, and 0.87g/t Au + 5.7g/t Ag + 0.54% Cu. Sampling within
the zone was completed to provide the mining engineering team with
additional data for trial mining which was completed at Ardala
during the Summer.
Forthcoming programme
Following the above phase of work at the Salinbas Project, the
Ariana exploration team are planning a 2,000m drilling programme
scheduled for Q2 2019 to be funded utilising existing cash and
operational cash flow. This programme is in part a subset of the
10,000m drilling programme for which we have submitted applications
to the Department of Forestry for permitting. The 2,000m initial
programme is designed to increase confidence in the existing
Salinbas resource, in addition to conceptually testing the Salinbas
Main and North JORC exploration targets. Significant anomalies
identified at the Ardala North Target will also be tested, where
the construction of a new access road to the Project and trial
mining location has been completed (see below).
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/2523E_1-2018-10-16.pdf
Figure 1: Satellite map of the Salinbas Project summarising some
of the work completed up to October 2018. The JORC Exploration
Target areas are shown in blue outline and the current Salinbas
deposit is outlined in yellow. The limits of the drill-defined and
mapped Ardala porphyry are shown in magenta.
Trial Mining and Road Building
Trial mining was conducted on the project area during the summer
as part of a programme of work and as specified to the Turkish
Government. Over 5,000 tonnes of mineralised material was extracted
from the trial mining area and stockpiled on site. In addition,
4.4km of roads were built or upgraded in order to improve access to
the trial mining area, following the receipt of the necessary
forestry permissions. These roads will also be used during the
planned drilling programme, in addition to drill-pad preparation at
several other locations which do not require forestry
permitting.
Details of the Salinbas Project
The Salinbas Project is situated in the Pontide Metallogenic
Province in northeastern Turkey and consists of one operational
licence and two operational licence application areas, located in
Artvin Province in north-eastern Turkey (coordinates: 746300 mE;
4556800 mN). The property lies 11km to the southeast (straight
line) and 38km by road from Artvin and 11km to the west (straight
line) and 15km by road from Ardanuc.
The project contains three notable prospects: Salinbas, Ardala
and Hizarliyayla, across three licences which are owned 100% by the
operating subsidiary, Pontid Madencilik San. ve Tic. Ltd. Two of
the licences remain in process at the General Directorate of Mining
Affairs ("GDMA") for conversion to operational status following
recent site inspections conducted by representatives of the GDMA.
The Salinbas licence has recently been provided with approval to
grant and is awaiting ratification by the GDMA. The Hizarliyayla
licence has received approval from the GDMA site inspectors and a
revised operational project has been submitted in advance of
expected grant and ratification.
During late 2017, the Ariana exploration team completed detailed
regional and prospect scale geological mapping, covering an area of
over 160km(2) within a prospective trend of mineralisation known as
the Hot Gold Corridor. This mapping programme contributed
significantly towards an improved understanding of the controls on
mineralisation across the district and resulted in the
identification of several new prospect areas.
This work was followed-up in early 2018 with re-logging of the
majority of the Salinbas diamond drill-core in order to: 1) better
correlate surface mapping with down-hole interpretations; 2)
re-evaluate the existing geological model and interpretations of
the processes of mineralisation; and 3) to plan a drilling
programme to test new surface exploration targets defined in late
2017, notably at Salinbas North and Ardala North. To date a total
of 50 diamond drill holes have been selectively re-evaluated,
totalling 7,806m of drill core. This work resulted in further
refinements in the understanding of surface and subsurface geology,
which has led to the development of a more coherent geological
model for both Salinbas and Ardala.
Previous work completed between 2009 and 2015 led to a
geological model which envisaged the emplacement of mineralisation
along a particular series of thrust-fault surfaces developed during
regional compression. However, the timing of mineralisation with
respect to such tectonic activity was far less clear. As a result
of the recent mapping and relogging of drill-core, it appears that
the mineralisation at Salinbas and its relationship to the Ardala
porphyry is significantly less complex. The resulting model
developed from this improved understanding does not envisage the
development of mineralisation under a compressional tectonic
regime. Rather, the new model suggests that mineralising
sulphide-rich fluids were dispersed outward from the Ardala
porphyry and selectively propagated along a palaeo-weathering
surface located between two key geological units.
The Salinbas-style of mineralisation is typically identified as
a replacement-type and is sulphide-rich to gossanous in character,
selectively forming within an irregular polymictic horizon, located
between the Late Cretaceous (c.100 Ma) Ziyarettepe Formation
(comprising massive fossiliferous limestones) and Late Palaeocene
(c.56 Ma) Kizilcik Formation (comprising an intercalated sequence
of conglomerates, limestones, siltstones and mudstones, including
black shales). This horizon marks a key unconformity within the
stratigraphy and is a mappable target unit for further
Salinbas-style mineralisation. The source of the sulphide-rich
mineralising fluids, was a volcanic event which coincided with the
intrusion of both mineralised and unmineralised porphyries in the
Ardala Intrusive Complex at approximately 52.3 Ma. This event also
resulted in the deposition of volcanic rocks during the Early
Eocene (56-41 Ma) which correlate to the units of the Avcilar
Formation, which have been mapped around the project area and which
lie unconformably over the Kizilcik Formation.
The recognition of a single mappable geological horizon which is
marked in particular by the stratigraphic position of the Salinbas
deposit, is key to the definition of the JORC Exploration Target.
It is expected that Salinbas-style mineralisation will exist in
places elsewhere along this prospective stratigraphic horizon,
rather than within a complex and less-predictable fault system, as
inferred from the previous geological model. In addition, relogging
of certain drill holes in the area connecting Salinbas to Ardala,
suggest the potential to identify a steeply plunging breccia-pipe
style of mineralisation emanating from an extension of the Ardala
porphyry and specifically where this impinges upon a zone around
the Salinbas Horizon. This style of mineralisation appears akin to
that encountered in places within the Hot Maden deposit, suggesting
the potential for higher-grade feeder zones occurring beneath the
Salinbas Horizon.
Zones of mineralisation discovered in late 2017, have further
reinforced current understanding by demonstrating the geological
continuity and potential for mineralisation along the prospective
Salinbas Horizon. Salinbas North, a significant target defined by
highly anomalous conventional soil-sampling results, including 3.83
g/t Au + 108 g/t Ag, 2.97 g/t Au + 94 g/t Ag and 1.67 g/t Au + 91
g/t Ag, is located precisely at the boundary between the
Ziyarettepe limestones and the Kizilcik sedimentary rocks,
approximately 1km from Salinbas. Newly discovered old workings have
also been mapped at this location, located exactly along the
contact between the two geological formations.
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
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited Tel: +44 (0) 20 7886
2500
Adam James / James Stearns
Yellow Jersey PR Limited Tel: +44 (0) 7544 275
882
Tim Thompson / Harriet Jackson arianaresources@yellowjerseypr.com
/ Henry Wilkinson
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 exploration and development company with mining
operations focused on epithermal gold-silver and porphyry
copper-gold deposits in Turkey, the largest gold producing country
in Europe. The Company is developing a portfolio of prospective
licences originally selected on the basis of its in-house
geological and remote-sensing database, which now contain a total
of 1.6 million ounces of gold and other metals (as at end-2017).
Ariana's objective is to cost-effectively add value to its projects
through focused exploration and to develop its operations,
primarily through well-financed joint ventures.
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, form part of a 50:50 Joint Venture with Proccea
Construction Co. The Kiziltepe Sector of the Red Rabbit Project is
fully-permitted and is currently in production. The total resource
inventory at the Red Rabbit Project and wider project area stands
at c. 605,000 ounces of gold equivalent (as at end-2017). At
Kiziltepe a Net Smelter Return ("NSR") royalty of up to 2.5% on
production is payable to Franco-Nevada Corporation. At Tavsan an
NSR royalty of up to 2% on future production is payable to
Sandstorm Gold.
In north-eastern Turkey, Ariana owns 100% of the Salinbas Gold
Project, comprising the Salinbas gold-silver deposit and the Ardala
copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry among other prospects. The total
resource inventory of the Salinbas project area is c. 1 million
ounces of gold equivalent. A NSR royalty of up to 2% on future
production is payable to Eldorado Gold Corporation.
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited are broker 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" chemical symbol for silver;
"Au" chemical symbol for gold;
"Cu" chemical symbol for copper;
"g/t" grams per tonne;
"JORC" the Joint Ore Reserves Committee;
"m" Metres;
"oz" Troy ounces;
"pXRF" portable X-ray Fluorescence;
"Zn" chemical symbol for zinc.
Ends.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
END
DRLUNVVRWAARAAA
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