Forestry Permit Granted for Red Rabbit Gold Pro...

4 December 2012
AIM: AAU

FORESTRY PERMIT GRANTED FOR RED RABBIT GOLD PROJECT, TURKEY

Ariana Resources plc ('Ariana' or 'the Company'), the gold exploration and development company focused on Turkey, is pleased to announce the grant of the necessary forestry permits, the last major hurdle ahead of the completion of the feasibility and environmental impact assessment works, at its flagship Red Rabbit Gold Project in Western Turkey.

Highlights:

• Forestry permits approved by the Prime Ministry and issued by the Department of Forestry for the Kiziltepe Sector of the Red Rabbit Project. 

• Provides a clear path towards development and construction of a 150,000 tonnes ore per annum gold mine at Kiziltepe, corresponding to an average production of approximately 21,000 oz/year of gold equivalent over the first five years of operation. 

• Forestry permits will enable Ariana to gain access to the Tailings Storage Facility ('TSF') area and to complete geotechnical and hydrogeological drilling at this location - the final outstanding component of the definitive feasibility study ('DFS') and environmental impact assessment ('EIA').  

• Interim Feasibility Results in October 2012 demonstrated highly attractive economic fundamentals are achievable at Kiziltepe with a Net Present Value ('NPV') (8% discount) of up to US$49.8 million and Internal Rate of Return ('IRR') of 47.8%, with payback secured in 2.1 years. 

• Continuing to identify potential additional resources at Kiziltepe and on four other prospects in the vicinity currently held under licence by the Company in line with strategy to create long-term value. 

Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented:

"The key hurdle to commencing production at our Red Rabbit Gold Project has been overcome with the grant of the forestry permits for the designated tailings storage area of the Kiziltepe Sector by the Turkish authorities.  This milestone allows us the crucial access we require to in order to complete our geotechnical and hydrogeological drilling and in turn the EIA and DFS, taking us a significant step closer to commencing production at Kiziltepe.

"This permitting grant coupled with strong local support and the highly attractive economic fundamentals demonstrated in our Interim Feasibility Study make for a highly exciting year ahead as we accelerate our efforts to commence production at Red Rabbit in 2014.  I look forward to providing further updates on our development schedule in due course."

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Contacts:

Editors' note:

The Competent Persons responsible for this study are as follows:

For the Resource Estimate, Paul Gribble, FIMMM, C.Eng., a senior geologist with Tetra Tech in Swindon, UK.

For the mining studies, Richard Hope, MIMMM, C.Eng., a senior mining engineer with Tetra Tech in Swindon, UK.

For the processing studies, Dr. Arun Vathavooran, PhD., MIMMM, C.Eng., a senior processing engineer with Tetra Tech, Swindon, UK.

The above persons have reviewed this press release and consent to the inclusion of data and text taken from the study report in the form and context in which it appears.

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 Southern Africa and Australia.  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 selected on the basis of its in-house geological and remote-sensing database, on its own in western Turkey and in Joint Venture with Eldorado Gold Corporation in north-eastern Turkey.  Eldorado owns 51% of this joint venture and is fully funding all exploration work on the JV properties, while Ariana owns 49% and is the operator.

The Company's flagship assets are its Sindirgi 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, are presently being assessed as to their economic merits and now form part of a Joint Venture with Proccea Construction Co.  Proccea is earning in to 50% of this Joint Venture on expenditure of US$8 million.  The total resource inventory of the Company stands at 448,000 ounces of gold equivalent.  

Ariana also has a strategic investment in Tigris Resources Limited (www.tigrisresources.com), a private Jersey-based exploration company, which is focused on the exploration of copper and gold deposits in southeastern Turkey.  Ariana retains 12.3% of Tigris Resources Limited.  

S.P. Angel Corporate Finance LLP are 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.

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