Ariana Resources PLC Ariana Resources Plc : Significant Resource Development Upside At Tavsan
22 February 2017 - 6:00PM
UK Regulatory
TIDMAAU
22 February 2017
AIM: AAU
SIGNIFICANT RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT UPSIDE AT TAVSAN
Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the exploration and
development company operating in Turkey, is pleased to announce the
completion of resource-focused target generation for the Tavsan Project*
("Tavsan" or "the Project"). Tavsan is part of the Red Rabbit Joint
Venture with Proccea Construction Co. and is 50% owned by Ariana.
Highlights:
-- Sixteen target areas identify the potential for significant resource
growth at the Tavsan Project.
-- Important drill intercepts warranting follow-up include 11m @ 5.11 g/t Au
+ 6.83g/t Ag, 6m @ 3.37g/t Au + 3.67g/t Ag and 9m @ 1.30g/t Au + 4.32g/t
Ag within c.20m from surface.
-- Several mineralised zones identified in trenching require follow-up,
including 170m @ 1.04g/t Au + 4.1g/t Ag, 140m @ 1.11g/t Au + 5.2g/t Ag
and 60m @ 1.30g/t Au + 4.34g/t Ag.
-- Trial mining at the site has produced a stockpile of c.28,000 tonnes to
date at an average grade of 1.41 g/t gold.
-- Company planning to conduct a high-resolution portable X-ray Fluorescent
(pXRF) soil sampling programme to refine target areas ahead of future
resource drilling.
Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented:
"The Tavsan Project comprises significant scope for further resource
growth and the development of an extremely attractive low-cost and
high-margin mining opportunity. Based on the existing scoping study,
the project has already demonstrated considerable potential, though
further resource upside could enhance this substantially. Our
management resource target at Tavsan is 300,000 oz gold of which at
least 200,000 oz gold is targeted to be accessible via open pit mining
methods. This would result in an increase in potential mine life by a
further c.3 years to a total life of c.7 years, producing at a rate of
approximately 30,000 oz gold per annum.
At this stage we envisage Tavsan as a semi-autonomous satellite
operation to the Kiziltepe Mine within the context of the broader Red
Rabbit Joint Venture with Proccea Construction Co. Tavsan would share
much of the management and operational infrastructure as Kiziltepe yet
be developed as a heap-leach operation with possibly only the carbon
elution and regeneration, electro-winning and gold room being shared
between the two operations. This would require limited additional
capital expenditure at Kiziltepe, though substantially less than
developing such facilities independently at Tavsan.
More work is required at Tavsan before we can refine our models and
operational plans, but it is certainly a project deserving of our
efforts due to the significant potential uplift in company value that it
represents to our shareholders."
* All figures relating to Mineral Resources, including the financial
model, are quoted gross with respect to the Joint Venture; Ariana holds
50% of the project through its JV company.
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of
Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.
Figure 1 http://hugin.info/138153/R/2080629/783522.pdf : Map of the
Tavsan project area showing the location of outcropping mineralised
jasperoid (in red) and currently designed open-pits (dark blue
outlines). Most of the exploration targets lie along NW- and
NE-trending axes associated with a thrust-fault and its subsidiary
structures. Target numbers correspond to those shown in Table 1. The
location of the trial mining pit is also shown within the Main Zone
resource area.
Target Generation
Following the completion of the Tavsan Scoping Study (released 10
November 2016), the Ariana Exploration Team have finalised a
comprehensive review of all surface geochemical, drilling and geological
databases across the project area. A total of sixteen significant
targets have been generated for immediate follow-up (Table 1). Seven of
the targets demonstrate significant potential to expand the current
Tavsan resource following limited infill drilling and other resource
test work.
Table 1: Targets generated for follow-up during 2017, in numerical
order. Several targets have been ranked as very high priority and
warrant further drill testing.
Target Target Grades Priority
type
1 Drill 11m @ 5.11 g/t Au + 6.83g/t Ag (0m-11m) Very
Intercept High
(ODX99A)
2 Drill 6m @ 3.37g/t Au + 3.67g/t Ag (16m-22m) Very
Intercept High
(ODX53)
3 Drill 9m @ 1.30g/t Au + 4.32g/t Ag (0m-9m) Very
Intercept High
(OR3)
4 Trench 4 170m @ 1.04g/t Au + 4.1g/t Ag High
5 Trench 5 140m @ 1.11g/t Au + 5.2g/t Ag High
6 Trench 6 75m @ 1.19g/t Au + 6.5g/t Ag High
7 Trench 1 60m @ 1.30g/t Au + 4.3g/t Ag High
8 Trench 3 75m @ 0.6g/t Au + 1.5g/t Ag Moderate
9 Trench 2 65m @ 0.88g/t + 3.1g/t Ag Moderate
10 Trench 7 60m @ 0.65g/t Au + 2.6g/t Ag Moderate
11 Rock-chip 1.13g/t Au + 21.1g/t Ag, 1.18g/t Au + 21.4g/t Ag Moderate
12 Rock-chip 1.58g/t Au + 7.6g/t Ag, 0.71g/t Au + 33.4g/t Ag, 0.38g/t Moderate
Au + 11.3g/t Ag
13 Rock-chip 0.64g/t Au + 4.5g/t Ag, 0.58g/t Au + 11.5g/t Ag, 0.42g/t Moderate
Au + 4.1g/t Ag
14 Rock-chip 3.03g/t Au + 11.4g/t Ag Moderate
15 Rock-chip 1.06g/t Au + 4.2g/t Ag Moderate
16 Untested 14 mapped workings Moderate
Historic
Workings
Mineralisation at Tavsan largely occurs on two dominant structural
trends, with the majority of mineralisation located along the gently
dipping and undulating plane of a NE-SE trending thrust-fault. The
second, subsidiary trend for mineralisation is controlled dominantly by
a unit of neritic limestone and a series of NW-SE linkage faults,
trending at about 90 degrees to the primary fault plane. The Tavsan
resource currently stands at approximately 215,000oz gold equivalent
(Table 2) across four main areas. Trial mining at the Main Zone has
produced a stockpile of c.28,000 tonnes to date (Figure 2) at an average
grade of 1.41 g/t gold, which is consistent with the estimated grade of
the resource (Table 2).
Table 2: JORC 2004 classified resource estimate for Tavsan, completed in
2008 by SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd.
Tonnage
Classification Zone (Mt) Grade Metal
Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Oz Au Oz Ag
Indicated Main 1.7 1.6 4.2 87,000 229,000
Main +
Inferred Satellites 3.2 1.1 3.7 117,000 380,000
Database evaluations and target generation was initiated in January 2017
following a thorough review of all drilling completed at Tavsan.
Isolated anomalous intercepts on the southwest flank of the Main Zone
indicates significant potential to expand the current resource. Drill
holes ODX53 (6m @ 3.37g/t Au + 3.67g/t Ag) and OR3 (9m @ 1.30g/t Au +
4.32g/t Ag) display potential for a fifth mineralised area to occur
between Main Zone and Western Zone, with mineralisation proven from
surface (OR3) to a depth of 22 metres (ODX53), where drilling ended in
mineralisation (1m @ 0.32g/t Au).
Figure 2 http://hugin.info/138153/R/2080629/783523.pdf : Photograph of
the trial mining area at the Tavsan Project, with stockpile area in the
foreground. In aggregate, c.28,000 tonnes of material grading 1.41 g/t
Au is stockpiled at Tavsan.
One kilometre north of Main Zone, another significant drill intercept
(ODX99A) 11m @ 5.11 g/t Au + 6.83g/t Ag, outlines additional potential
for immediate near surface resource growth. As a result, Whittle pits
generated for the purposes of the 2016 scoping study, located NE and SW
of ODX99A, may have the potential to expand along an 800 metre gap
between the planned pits. Highly anomalous trench results and rock-chip
samples have also been defined in this area indicating that such an
expansion of the pits, especially near surface, is a distinct
possibility.
Historic trenching, based on composite rock-chip sampling at systematic
but non-uniform intervals, has outlined excellent potential for near
surface resource expansion. Trenches (T4) 170m @ 1.04g/t Au + 4.1g/t Ag,
(T5) 140m @ 1.11g/t Au + 5.2g/t Ag and (T1) 60m @ 1.30g/t Au + 4.34g/t
Ag, suggest that several outcropping jasperoid and associated subcrop
areas, demonstrate potential to become additional near surface
resources. Historic trenching, notably T4 and T6, also highlight
significant potential for immediate growth of the planned open-pits at
the Main Zone.
In order to cost-effectively follow-up all sixteen target areas, the
Ariana team have scheduled a 5,000 sample portable X-ray Fluorescence
(pXRF) soil sampling programme to commence in March. The 25m x 25m
gridded programme will generate a high-resolution surface geochemical
dataset, covering five square kilometres over the entire project area
and will significantly help to define the potential of near-surface
resource target areas. This will assist in refining targets for a
second phase of trenching work, which will improve confidence and
continuity of the historic work and ultimately assist in targeting for
further resource drilling.
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
Jon Belliss
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited Tel: +44 (0) 20 7886 2500
Adam James / Tom Salvesen
Editors' Note:
Competent Person
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 originally selected on
the basis of its in-house geological and remote-sensing database.
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 construction. The total resource inventory at the Red
Rabbit Project and wider project area stands at c. 525,000 ounces of
gold equivalent. At Kiziltepe a Net Smelter Return ("NSR") royalty of
up to 2.5% on future 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.
Beaufort Securities Limited and Panmure Gordon (UK) 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.
Glossary of Technical Terms:
"Ag" the chemical symbol for silver;
"Au" the chemical symbol for gold;
"g/t" grams per tonne;
"Indicated resource" a part of a mineral resource for which tonnage,
densities, shape, physical characteristics, grade and mineral content
can be estimated with a reasonable level of confidence. It is based on
exploration, sampling and testing information gathered through
appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits,
workings and drill holes. The locations are too widely or
inappropriately spaced to confirm geological and/or grade continuity but
are spaced closely enough for continuity to be assumed;
"Inferred resource" a part of a mineral resource for which tonnage,
grade and mineral content can be estimated with a low level of
confidence. It is inferred from geological evidence and has assumed, but
not verified, geological and/or grade continuity. It is based on
information gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such
as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes that may be
limited or of uncertain quality and reliability;
"JORC" the Joint Ore Reserves Committee;
"m" Metres;
"oz" Ounces;
"t" Tonnes;
"Whittle" computer software that uses the Lerch-Grossman algorithm,
which is a 3-D algorithm that can be applied to the optimisation of
open-pit mine designs. The purpose of optimisation is to produce the
most cost effective and most profitable open-pit design from a resource
block model.
Ends
Figure 2: http://hugin.info/138153/R/2080629/783523.pdf
Figure 1: http://hugin.info/138153/R/2080629/783522.pdf
This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf
of Nasdaq 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
http://www.arianaresources.com/s/Home.asp
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 22, 2017 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)
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