[Description: Trade on AIM logo][cid:image007.jpg@01CECFD0.BCD22940] 23 October 2013 AIM: AAU TEN NEW DRILLING TARGETS AT KIZILTEPE SECTOR OF RED RABBIT GOLD PROJECT, TURKEY Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), is pleased to provide a further update on its recent exploration programme across the Red Rabbit Joint Venture project area in Western Turkey, following on from initial results announced on the 23 September 2013. Highlights:
* Ten new drill-ready targets defined on well-mineralised veins (rock-chip values typically exceeding 5 g/t Au) at the Kiziltepe Sector of the Red Rabbit Gold Project.
* Targeting and scouting has identified a further 300 exploration targets within 75km of the planned Kiziltepe mine-site.
* 41 targets have been followed-up this summer; work continuing.
* Initial results are highly encouraging, demonstrating potential for mineralised intrusions associated with a large-scale collapsed volcanic caldera, which is contained by the Company licences.
* New high-grade gold-silver and base-metal targets identified in proximity to Kiziltepe Sector licences.
Dr.

Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented: "The recent efforts of the Ariana field team to identify new targets in the vicinity of the planned Kiziltepe mine-site have been very successful and highly encouraging, with 10 new drill-ready targets identified within the Kiziltepe licences alone.

This follows from our desire to understand fully the potential of the wider area to yield additional resources, which could in time be fed to the future plant at Kiziltepe.

Work to date has highlighted that only 6% of the total vein system mapped in the region corresponds to our open-pit reserve of 1.1Mt @ 3.1 g/t gold and 39.8 g/t silver. "The team remain busy with target follow-up and will shortly begin testing an exciting new geological model for the region.

This model has evolved from the recent mapping programme and builds upon the input of a specialist geological consultant, who identified a magmatic phase to the mineralisation at Kiziltepe and related prospects.

Follow-up work by the team suggests that the entire vein system is associated with a large-scale collapsed volcanic caldera containing resurgent rhyolitic domes, which are associated with mineralisation.

Such calderas are, in places, associated with extensive mineralised systems. "The Company is now planning to prioritise its exploration to focus on the definition of potentially mineable high-grade resources in the vicinity of the planned Kiziltepe plant.

Our aim is to extend the life of mine to Stage 2, increasing our mineable resources beyond eight years."
Description of Exploration The Ariana field team has recently completed a comprehensive targeting and geological mapping study over its licences held within the Sindirgi Gold Corridor and in surrounding areas (Figure 1).

The primary objective of the study was to integrate all existing geological mapping data in to a single coherent database, remapping at 1:10,000 scale specific areas as necessary.

A total of 178km2 of new geological mapping was completed over a four-week period.

Rock units were classified and typed using geochemical data derived from a field-portable X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) device. Utilising the in-house geoscientific databases generated by the Company in parallel with interrogation of the Newmont Two-Decade (N2D) database, the Ariana team has generated 310 exploration targets within 75km of the Companys proposed Kiziltepe mine site.

Of these, 193 are located within 50km of the proposed mine site and have consequently been designated high-priority targets, from which 10 have been selected as drill-ready due to their close proximity to Kiziltepe and because they are contained by Company licences.

Having access to the N2D database has been instrumental in saving the Company considerable time and costs associated with this targeting work. Since June, a total of 4,700 new surface samples (rock-chip and soil samples) and field XRF analyses of mineralisation and alteration have been taken and a total of 41 high-priority targets have now been followed-up.

In this process, twelve kilometres of new epithermal veins were identified and mapped in the region, with several highly anomalous targets scheduled for further follow-up.

Some of these targets returned exceptional rock-chip assay grades of up to 20.8g/t Au + 33.5g/t Ag and 14.45g/t Au + 39.2g/t Ag (announced on the 23 September 2013). The exploration team is presently developing a new geological model and is defining a strategy to test for a possible buried porphyry system, which has potentially given rise to the mineralisation seen in the region.

Geological data collected during the mapping study and new structural interpretations have identified a series of mineralised concentric faults and radial cross-cutting structures, potentially relating to a collapsed volcanic caldera containing resurgent rhyolitic domes which are, in places, host to mineralisation.

The cross-cutting structures are particularly significant, as they appear to carry the higher gold grades at several prospects.

Significantly for the new model, the centre of the suggested volcanic caldera displays zones of intensely clay altered dacite containing disseminated low-grade gold mineralisation with associated quartz-barite veinlets of up to 1.16 g/t Au + 2.8 g/t Ag, 0.78 g/t Au + 12.6g/t Ag and 0.35 g/t Au + 1.1 g/t Ag.

Ariana will continue to re-assess its databases, in advance of further exploration and geological evaluation over the following months as part of the process of testing this new working hypothesis. In addition, in the immediate vicinity of the Kiziltepe Sector licences (between 1km and 4km outside licence boundaries), reconnaissance exploration has identified two gold-silver bearing quartz vein zones containing rock-chip grades of 9.55g/t Au + 95.8 g/t Ag, 9.54 g/t Au + 17.6 g/t Ag and 5.75 g/t Au + 18.2 g/t Ag, and 2.15 g/t Au + 59.2 g/t Ag, 1.16 g/t Au + 46.0 g/t Ag and 1.14 g/t Au + 93.6 g/t Ag respectively.

The Company has also identified an area containing significant base-metal anomalies.

The latter area, though in an early-stage of exploration, displays geochemical signatures and mineralisation styles associated with mineralised porphyries. [cid:image008.png@01CECFD0.BCD22940] Figure 1: Map showing the targeting zones for current regional exploration in western Turkey.

Exploration in 2013 has focused primarily in the 25km zone and on certain targets in the 50km zone.

The location of Company licences and important gold projects held by other companies are shown.

The inset map shows the locations of operating gold and silver mines in the region, collectively containing approximately 20 Moz of gold and 160 Moz of silver.
Contacts: Ariana Resources plc Tel: +44 (0) 20 7407 3616 Michael de Villiers, Chairman
Kerim Sener, Managing Director
Beaumont Cornish Limited Tel: +44 (0) 20 7628 3396 Roland Cornish / Felicity Geidt
Beaufort Securities Limited Tel: +44 (0) 20 7382 8387 Chris Rourke / Guy Wheatley
Loeb Aron & Company Ltd. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7628 1128 John Beresford-Peirse / Dr.

Frank Lucas
St Brides Media & Finance Ltd Tel: +44 (0) 20 7236 1177 Susie Geliher / Lottie Brocklehurst
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 are fully funding all exploration work on the JV properties, while Ariana owns 49%.

The total resource inventory within this JV is 1.09 million ounces of gold. The Companys 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, 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 at the Red Rabbit Project 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 south-eastern Turkey.

Ariana retains 7.6% of Tigris Resources Limited. Beaufort Securities Limited and Loeb Aron & Company Ltd.

are joint 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
[cid:image002.png@01CECBDD.61F8A860] Lottie Brocklehurst St Brides Media & Finance Ltd 3 St Michaels Alley, London, EC3V 9DS www.stbridesmedia.co.uk Tel: 0207 236 1177 | Mob: 07917010468 | Twitter: @StBrides1