16 October 2019
AIM: AAU
ROYALTY AND DATABASE ACQUISITION
Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the exploration and development company with gold mining operations in Turkey, is pleased to announce its conditional agreement to acquire 100% of Dogu Akdeniz Mineralleri San. ve Tic. Ltd. ("Dogu"), a subsidiary of KEFI Minerals plc ("KEFI"). Dogu holds a Net Smelter Return ("NSR") on the Kizilcukur Project and a valuable exploration database encompassing the Republic of Turkey.
Highlights:
· Dogu to be purchased outright by a subsidiary of Ariana, in exchange for total cash consideration of £90,000 to KEFI.
· Dogu owns a 2% NSR on the Kizilcukur Project and KEFI's exploration database on Turkey (compiled since 2007), which will complement and enhance the existing databases of the Company.
· Initial payment of £15,000 made to KEFI to confer exclusivity during a one month final due diligence period.
· Staged payments to be made by the end of 2019 to complete the agreement.
Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented:
"The acquisition of Dogu from KEFI is an important development for the Company as we look to progress and further de-risk the Kizilcukur Project. In particular, the acquisition of the NSR royalty on Kizilcukur ensures that we limit any extraneous financial impacts on any future operation at this site. Meanwhile we are gaining exclusive rights to a significant exploration database covering Turkey which was compiled by KEFI over several years during their time in the country. Furthermore, we intend to make use of Dogu as an entity through which we can develop new project opportunities for the Company, enabling us to keep them distinct from our operational entity in Turkey, Galata Madencilik, and our other project interests in the country."
Kizilcukur Project
The Kizilcukur Project consists of one operational licence located in the Balikesir Province in Western Turkey (coordinates: 626150 mE; 4360440 mN). The property lies 22km to the northeast (straight line) and 70km by road from the Kiziltepe Sector of the Company's Red Rabbit Project. A royalty will be payable to Dogu Akdeniz Mineralleri San. ve Tic. Ltd. of 2% Net Smelter Return on commercial production from the Project. Ariana has the option to sell the project to Zenit Madencilik San. ve Tic. A.S. (the operating company for the Kiziltepe Mine) at three times the exploration cost.
The Project covers an area containing a series of sub-parallel quartz veins hosted by ophiolitic units that trend northwest and extend for about two kilometres. The veins exhibit classic low-sulphidation epithermal features and attains a maximum true width of 8m. The Zeki vein extends over a strike length of 820m. Composite rock-chip sampling of 80m strike along this quartz vein returned encouraging assay results of 6m at 3.3 g/t gold, 2m at 9.6g/t gold and 1m at 7.2 g/t gold prior to drill-testing. The peak rock-chip assay result in this area was 152 g/t gold and 1,320 g/t silver.
A JORC 2012 compliant Mineral Resource estimate was prepared for the Kizilcukur Project and Whittle optimisation conducted in 2016 identified the potential for the development of three open pits. The Mineral Resource in Indicated and Inferred JORC categories stands at c.308,000 tonnes at 2.11g/t gold + 73.4g/t silver (for 33,000 oz gold equivalent) and demonstrates potential for further growth with additional drilling. The management resource target for future exploration at Kizilcukur is currently 500,000 tonnes at >2 g/t gold + >70g/t silver.
Trial mining commenced within the central part of the Zeki Pit during 2017. This pit is the largest and highest grade of the three pits defined following Whittle optimisation of the Kizilcukur resource. The General Directorate of Mining Affairs approved blasting operations on the licence as part of the Mining Permit (as announced on 18 November 2015). Further trial mining is being planned for 2019/2020.
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.
Contacts:
Ariana Resources plc |
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7407 3616 |
Michael de Villiers, Chairman |
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Kerim Sener, Managing Director |
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Beaumont Cornish Limited |
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7628 3396 |
Roland Cornish / Felicity Geidt |
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Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited |
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7886 2500 |
Atholl Tweedie / James Stearns |
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Yellow Jersey PR Limited |
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3004 9512 |
Dom Barretto / Harriet Jackson / Henry Wilkinson |
[email protected] |
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;
"g/t" grams per tonne;
"JORC" the Joint Ore Reserves Committee;
"m" Metres;
"oz" Troy ounces;
Ends.
