LONDON (Alliance News) - Ariana Resources PLC, a gold exploration and development company operating in Turkey, said the results of a drilling programme show the Kizilcukur project's potential.
Ariana hopes that the Kizilcukur project contains a resource that "may become a higher-grade satellite operation" to the Kiziltepe Mine, which is in construction.
The Kizilcukur project is about 22 kilometres to the northeast of the company's Kiziltepe Mine. Kizilcukur is outside of the Red Rabbit joint venture with Proccea Construction Co and is fully owned by Ariana.
"The results have confirmed previous work and show that the highest gold and silver grades are encountered within 30 metres of surface, which is particularly encouraging when considering that open-pit mining is also envisaged at this location. Future drilling will need to concentrate on a specific level within the vein system to demonstrate the full strike potential of this resource area," Kerim Sener, managing director, said in a statement.
Ariana said 1,598 meters of new reverse circulation drilling identified high-grade and near surface zones of mineralisation within the Kizilcukur vein system, with all intercepts hitting mineralisation within less than 60 metres from surface.
Best infill intercepts included, eight metres at 7.6 grams per tonne gold plus 194 grams per tonne silver, five metres at 3.5 grams per tonne gold plus 263 grams per tonne silver, and 11 metres at 1.3 grams per tonnue gold plus 73 grams per tonne silver.
In addition, 76 metres of rock-saw channel sampling were completed, with best results of 2.0 metres at 10.5 grams per tonne gold plus 455 grams per tonne silver, 2.7 metres at 4.4 grams per tonne gold plus 229 grams per tonne and 2.5m at 3.1 grams per tonne gold plus 177 grams per tonne silver.
The company said new drilling data permit refinements to the geological model and will enable a revision of the JORC resource for Kizilcukur, in order to assess its potential as a satellite operation to the Kiziltepe Mine.
"We expect to continue to improve the resource at this project through further drilling and, in addition, look forward to updating the market with further drilling results, including those from the Kiziltepe Mine," Sener said.
Shares in Ariana were down 5.0% at 0.760 pence on Monday morning.
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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Ariana (AAU)