TIDMAAU
RNS Number : 8137S
Ariana Resources PLC
14 March 2023
14 March 2023
AIM: AAU
PROJECT LEOPARD: FIRST EXPLORATION LICENSES GRANTED
Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the AIM-listed
mineral exploration and development company with gold mining
interests in Europe, is pleased to announce that its wholly-owned
Turkish operating subsidiary, Galata Mineral Madencilik San. ve
Tic. A.S. ("Galata") has been granted the exclusive exploration
rights for three new licenses in Eastern Turkey as part of Project
Leopard.
Highlights:
-- Three contiguous licences valid for seven years cover an area
of 6,000 hectares and are owned 100% by Ariana ("Gulluce
Project").
-- Dynamic exploration targeting multi-million ounce copper-gold
deposits in Eastern Turkey, with further licence applications
expected.
-- Project generation process augmented by the Newmont 2D
Database; right-of-first-refusal plus 1% NSR payable to Newmont if
a project enters production.
Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented:
"We are exceptionally pleased with the grant of these new
licences following our application to the General Directorate of
Mining and Petroleum Affairs in 2022. The grant follows a revised
approval and licence-issuing process, which was successfully
achieved by the Company on the first attempt. These licences also
represent the first new licences secured in Turkey by the Company
in over ten years and signify our pivot towards greenfield
exploration in the country. The fact that several licences adjacent
to ours were recently acquired in auction for c. GBP5 million bodes
well for the potential of this area and simultaneously demonstrates
the potential value of our ground.
Over recent months, we have been identifying multiple
prospective locations across eastern Turkey using our proprietary
exploration datasets coupled with the use of the Newmont 2D
Database under licence. This work has also involved extensive new
satellite remote-sensing and geophysical data processing and
interpretation which we are conducting in-house. We are now poised
to make further applications for ground across the region in the
future, with a view to initiating a major greenfields exploration
effort targeting the discovery of significant new copper-gold
deposits."
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").
Project Leopard
The mineral potential of eastern Turkey offers significant
opportunities for exploration and development of various minerals,
particularly precious and base metals. The area is characterised by
a complex geological history, involving the collision of the
Arabian and Eurasian plates. Several major mineral deposits such as
Çöpler (11.3Moz Au), Hot Maden (4Moz Au), Mollakara (3Moz Au) and
Salinbas (1.5Moz Au), among others (Figure 1) have been discovered
across this region during the past 25 years. The region hosts
several important geological structures between the Pontides Belt
and the Bitlis-Zagros suture zone, which contribute to the
prospectivity of this metallogenic province. The region remains
highly underexplored and little work has been completed in recent
years in this part of the country.
Ariana is making particular use of the Newmont Two Decade ("2D")
Database, announced on the 24(th) March 2022, as it was extended by
all parties until March 2031. This grants Ariana and Galata a
non-exclusive licence to the database. Ariana has granted Newmont a
right-of-first-refusal plus 1% Net Smelter Return ("NSR") royalty
if a project identified by the Company enters production.
The Company is advancing a strategy to secure 100% owned
exploration projects in eastern Turkey with the input of the
Project Leopard team, which will be further augmented for the
upcoming field season. The exploration effort will focus on areas
that have previously received only cursory prior exploration,
primarily for logistical reasons. As such, many of the areas
currently targeted are situated at significant altitude across the
mountainous regions of eastern Turkey and are subject to a
campaign-based and seasonally-driven exploration strategy.
Figure 1: Three dominant metallogenic arcs are present in
eastern Turkey, t he focus of Project Leopard, showing the location
of significant gold deposits. The location of the Gulluce Project
is shown as a black dot.
About the Gulluce Project
The three exploration licences granted cover a total area of
about 6,000 hectares which are located at the north of the Gulluce
village, about 50km northwest of Erzurum, eastern Turkey (Figure 2)
. The approval of the Company's application to the General
Directorate of Mining and Petroleum Affairs for three adjacent
mineral exploration licenses was made on the 7(th) March 2023 and
the licences were certificated for a period of seven years from the
10(th) March 2023 (Figure 2).
The Gulluce Project sits between the Pontide subduction zone and
İzmir-Erzincan-Ankara suture zone which developed a north-easterly
trending basin filled with Cretaceous - Paleogene volcanic and
sedimentary rocks. This area hosts several copper-dominant base
metal mineral deposits, including Maden-Bayburt, Otlukbeli-Erzincan
and Oltu-Erzurum. The central part of the project area lies at an
altitude of up to 2,858m above sea level.
The main lithological units are Cretaceous pelagic limestone,
Palaeocene volcanic rocks and Upper Palaeocene - Eocene clastic and
carbonate rocks. The Ariana exploration team has already conducted
an initial assessment of the local geology and followed up on prior
stream sediment sampling with rock chip sampling. This work has
confirmed the historic exploration results and has identified
several areas of geochemical anomalism.
In addition, five contiguous exploration licenses situated
immediately to the northeast of the Gulluce Project were auctioned
by the Mines Department recently. Four of these licenses have now
been granted to the participating parties, following a payment of
approximately GBP5 million to the Turkish Government. This
demonstrates the significant exploration potential of the broader
area.
Figure 2: Location and geology of the Gulluce Project .
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
John Prior / Hugh Rich / Atholl
Tweedie
Yellow Jersey PR Limited Tel: +44 (0) 7951 402 336
Dom Barretto / Shivantha Thambirajah arianaresources@yellowjerseypr.com
/
Bessie Elliot
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 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 February 2022).
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 222,000 ounces gold and 3.8 million ounces silver (as at
February 2022). The mine has been in pro table 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 Mine is located in western Turkey and contains a
JORC Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resource of 307,000 ounces
gold and 1.1 million million ounces silver (as at November 2022).
Following the approval of its Environmental Impact Assessment and
associated permitting, Tavsan is being developed as the second gold
mining operation in Turkey. Construction progress is temporarily
suspended pending the outcome of a local court decision pertaining
to the EIA. 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 Gold eld, which contains the "Hot Gold
Corridor" comprising several signi cant 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 owns 100% of Australia-registered Asgard Metals Fund
("Asgard"), as part of the Company's proprietary Project Catalyst
Strategy. The Fund is 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.
Ariana owns 75% of UK-registered Western Tethyan Resources Ltd
("WTR"), which operates across south-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. WTR is being funded through a
ve-year Alliance Agreement with Newmont Corporation (
www.newmont.com ).
Ariana owns 50% (increasing to 58%) of UK-registered Venus
Minerals Ltd ("Venus") which is focused on the exploration and
development of copper-gold assets in Cyprus which contain a
combined JORC Indicated and Inferred Resource of 17Mt @ 0.45% to
1.10% copper (excluding additional gold, silver and zinc.
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 .
Glossary of Technical Terms:
"km" Kilometres;
"m" Metres;
"NSR" Net Smelter Return;
"Moz" Million Ounces;
Ends.
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