🕐10.10.12 - 10:27 Uhr

ARIANA RESOURCES - 4,000M DRILLING PROGRAMME COMMENCES ON SALINBAS, TURKEY



[Description: Trade on AIM logo][Description: Ariana Resources PLC NEW] 10 October 2012 AIM: AAU 4,000m DRILLING PROGRAMME COMMENCES ON SALINBAS Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the gold exploration and development company focused on Turkey, announces the commencement of a 4,000m drilling programme on its Salinbas Project within its Arvin Province Joint Venture ("JV") in northeastern Turkey.

The JV is being funded to US$1.77 million by Eldorado Gold Corporation in the current operating year. Highlights:
* 4,000m drilling programme is designed to complete in-fill drilling of the known gold mineralisation at Salinbas and to test down-dip extensions.
* Best intercepts from previous drilling include:
o 9.5m @ 6.48 g/t Au + 39.4 g/t Ag o 11.3m @ 4.98 g/t Au + 42.8 g/t Ag o 25.0m @ 3.34 g/t Au + 7.9 g/t Ag o 21.5m @ 6.63 g/t Au + 19.8 g/t Ag o 42.7m @ 2.78 g/t Au + 13.4 g/t Ag
* The drilling to date at Salinbas has outlined a mineralised body of areal extent 750m x 500m, developed within a gently-dipping fault zone. . * Resource modelling shows evidence for subsidiary mineralised zones in the footwall of the main mineralised fault.
Dr.

Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented: "This drilling programme is being completed to better define the potential of the Salinbas system and to assist the development of a resource model.

The Salinbas system is still open to the south and to the east and the current geological model demonstrates the potential for several mineralised zones in proximity of a gently-dipping fault.

The orientation of the mineralisation and the continuity of high grades suggest that the mineralised body will provide for a resource, which could be mined by open-pit methods." Exploration Programme The NQ/HQ drilling programme is designed to be completed by two drilling rigs.

The Ariana drill rig will be responsible for drilling in-fill holes for resource modelling and estimation purposes (Figure 1) and a contract rig will be working to test extensions of the known mineralisation down dip.

Many drill holes will be vertical in order to cut the gently-dipping fault zone at a high angle, with hole depths varying from approximately 50m to 300m.

During the course of this drilling programme, the activities of the JV team will be supported by the Ariana exploration team. [Description: IMG_0482] Figure 1: Ariana drill rig on its first drill pad at the Salinbas Project, immediately before drilling commenced. Salinbas Project Salinbas is a high-grade epithermal gold prospect related to the nearby Ardala Cu-Au-Mo porphyry, which remains under licence to the JV.

In outcrop, mineralisation is associated with a zone of brecciation within an ENE-striking structural corridor, which appears to trend toward the Ardala porphyry some two kilometres away (Figure 2).

The discovery was revealed in a series of trenches, and in two successive follow-up drilling programmes. Drilling programmes in 2010 and 2011 completed a total of 6,951m drilled for 60 drill holes on the Salinbas Project.

The previous drilling has been modelled in Gemcom and has demonstrated a zone of mineralisation, which is 750m x 500m in areal extent.

The mineralisation occupies one dominant fault plane, possibly a thrust, which dips gently to the southeast away from an outcropping breccia zone.

Several subsidiary mineralised zones occupy the footwall of the dominant fault plane and have been penetrated by some previous holes. [Description: Artvin News Release V] Figure 2: Map showing existing and planned drilling at the Salinbas prospect.

The existing drilling has defined a gently southeast dipping gold zone along the plane of a gently-dipping fault separating hanging wall volcanic rocks from footwall limestones.

This zone is open down-dip in the directions indicated. Contacts: Ariana Resources plc Tel: +44 (0) 20 7407 3616 Michael Spriggs, Chairman
Kerim Sener, Managing Director
Beaumont Cornish Limited Tel: +44 (0) 20 7628 3396 Roland Cornish / Felicity Geidt
Fairfax I.S.

PLC Tel: +44 (0) 20 7598 5368 Ewan Leggat / Laura Littley
St Brides Media & Finance Ltd Tel: +44 (0) 20 7236 1177 Susie Geliher / Hugo de Salis
Editors note: 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 Masters 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 Companys 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.

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. Fairfax I.S.

PLC are brokers to the Company and Beaumont Cornish Limited is the Companys Nominated Adviser. For further information on Ariana you are invited to visit the Companys website at www.arianaresources.com. Ends
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