Ariana Resources brochure - November 2015

Ariana Resources Forges Ahead with plans for Turkish Gold Mine

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Ariana Res Forges Ah plans for T Gold Mine

Written by Sheree Hanna Produced

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d by James Pepper

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ARIANA RESOURCES

A British-based mineral exploration and development company has reached maturity with two major projects ripe for production.

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riana Resources PLC has invested $8 million within its joint venture to establish a new open-pit gold mine in western Turkey and just recently formally announced that construction works have started in the Kiziltepe sector.

Kiziltepe is part of Ariana’s Red Rabbit Gold Project, which contains a JORC compliant resource of 475,000oz Au equivalent (ounces of gold and the gold equivalent of silver) within the Kiziltepe and Tavsan Sectors located 75 kilometers apart with its joint venture partner Proccea Construction Company.

Commencement of works on the site marks five years since the formation of the joint venture culminating in a series of works already undertaken including the feasibility study, environmental impact assessment, other technical studies and the securing of various permits.

Dr Kerim Sener, Ariana’s Managing Director,

Kepaz - A Current Soil Sampling Area

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MINING

Workers Unloading The Site Perimeter Fence

explained that work had begun on securing the site with the erection of a perimeter fence, and that the forestry department had started clearing trees within areas in which permits had been sought.

He said: “We are initiating a drilling program in the foundation area of the designated mine site so we can calculate the volumes of concrete for the foundations and so on.

“Land acquisitions are essentially complete although there are a couple of other smaller parcels of land we are still working on, but not absolutely required for the operation to proceed, so there is quite a bit of activity on the ground at the moment.

“In terms of overall timeline, we hope to complete the first gold pour certainly by this time next year.”

Gold Finger Ariana Resources PLC was founded in 2002

“Ariana Resources PLC has invested $8 million within its joint venture to establish a new open-pit gold mine in western Turkey and just recently formally announced that construction works have started in the Kiziltepe sector.”

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ARIANA RESOURCES

Ore Stockpile in Kiziltepe

10 Number of Employees at Ariana Resources

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and picked up its first licenses in Turkey in early 2004 before becoming an AIM-listed company on the London Stock Exchange in 2005. Its longterm strategic plan is to develop its exploration portfolio through grassroots exploration, license acquisition and resource development.

In the past 10 years the company has dramatically evolved to become one that has successfully defined a total resource of 1.5 million ounces of gold in Turkey, Europe’s largest gold producer with eight operating gold mines.

Turkey lies within the globally significant Tethyan metallogenic belt hosting some of the world’s largest gold, silver and copper deposits.

Today, Ariana Resources PLC has two major projects in Turkey: the Red Rabbit Gold Project, and another joint venture with Eldorado Gold in the Artvin Province in northeastern Turkey.

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Economically Sound The Red Rabbit project requires Proccea to contribute $8 million during the three phases of development culminating in the establishment of the mine at Kiziltepe. In return Proccea will receive a 50 percent equity stake in the project.

The project has $33 million in debt financing raised through the Turkish bank, Turkiye Finans Katilim Bankasi A.S. Sener, who is also a director of Australia-based private mineral exploration consultancy, Matrix Exploration Pty. Ltd, is confident the project is economically viable, particularly with the current fall in oil prices.

At the time of the project’s feasibility study, oil prices were in excess of $100 per barrel, but since those prices have crashed the knock-on effect has been to reduce the mining contractor’s costs.

He said: “There has been a balancing out between the current market price for gold and the lower costs of oil. The current gold price of around $1,110 an ounce and with an oil price at $45 means the project remains economic.

“Gold prices are expected to rise steadily over the next eight years which is the current life of the Kiziltepe mine.

“Another factor which will affect the overall economics is that we expect to identify further resources we can optimise and ultimately feed through the process plant at the tail end of mine life as well as developing the surrounding project areas.”

Turkey lies within the globally significant Tethyan metallogenic belt hosting some of the world’s largest gold, silver and copper deposits.

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ARIANA RESOURCES

MINING

Live long and prosper The target is to keep the Kiziltepe plant running in excess of 10 years through further discoveries and for this reason the Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) has been designed with a capacity of 15 years.

As an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Centre for Exploration Targeting at the University of Western Australia, Sener is also involved in a number of research projects including investigating the potential for magmatic mineral systems on Mars to determine the prospectivity of the Martian crust.

Back on earth, Sener also believes there is potential for underground mining on the Red Rabbit Project although much of the current drilling is focused on the top 100 metre of the deposits.

“There are indications that those deposits do continue at depth and one of our exploration targets will be to start testing deeper levels in the years ahead, because the grade and width of the veins suggest there is potential for underground operations in places,” he said.

In the longer term, it is planned to develop a second mine at Tavsan and ultimately produce from both simultaneously at a rate of 50,000 oz Au per annum.

Sener said: “We believe there is potential to do that, but it will take a few more years to get through resource development stage and feasibility of Tavsan. We would rather finance through cash flow than to go back to the

“Ariana’s second project in Turkey is its joint venture with Eldorado Gold.

It is located in Artvin Province in the northeast of Turkey where Ariana Resources has defined more than a million ounces of gold”

Examining minerals

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ARIANA RESOURCES Kerim Sener Managing Director Kerim graduated from the University of Southampton with a first-class BSc (Hons) degree in Geology in 1997 and from the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College, with an MSc in Mineral Exploration in 1998.

After working for Independence Gold Mining Pvt. Ltd. (Lonmin Zimbabwe) he completed a PhD at the University of Western Australia. During his PhD, in 2000-2003, he worked with ASX-listed Northern GoldXxxxxxxxxx NL in the Northern Territory and on a variety of exploration consultancy projects in Western Australia.

In 2009, he completed his military service in Turkey.

He is a Fellow of The Geological Society of London, Member of The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, Member of the Chamber of Geological Engineers in Turkey and a member of the Society of Economic Geologists.

Kerim is a director of Matrix Exploration Pty. Ltd., a private mineral exploration consultancy based in Perth, and is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Centre for Exploration Targeting, University of Western Australia.

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market to raise new development funds.”

Looking to sell Ariana’s second project in Turkey is its joint venture with Eldorado Gold. It is located in Artvin Province in the north-east of Turkey where Ariana Resources has defined more than a million ounces of gold.

At present the joint venture companies are exploring the possibility of vending the project to another company or selling it out right.

“We have had a number of expressions of interest from Turkish conglomerates seeking to get into the gold space,” explained Sener. “We have signed confidentiality agreements with 10 of them now and they are reviewing data.”

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Company Information INDUSTRY

Mining And Mineral Exploration HEADQUARTERS

London, UK FOUNDED

2002 EMPLOYEES

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Due to the somewhat less certain political situation in Turkey, which has an interim government in place until the elections are held this November, no hard and fast decisions are expected just yet. “We are keeping that on care and maintenance at this stage and doing a little bit of exploration and continuing discussions with these groups so that when the time is right we will hopefully be in a position to sell that project in due course.�

In keeping with its strategy of exploration and development Ariana Resources has also established a subsidiary company called Asgard Metals Pty Ltd to focus specifically on non-gold resources mainly in Turkey but also looking at critical and specialty metals in other areas.

REVENUE

Not Disclosed PRODUCTS/ SERVICES

Gold Exploration And Development Company

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Ariana Resources Bridge House, London Bridge London, UK, SE1 9QR +44 (0)207 407 3616 +44 (0)207 403 1605 info@arianaresources.com