Ariana raises £1.9m through placing and subscription

Turkey-focussed gold exploration and development company Ariana Resources announced on Tuesday that it had raised an aggregate amount of approximately £1.87m by way of a placing of 133,846,154 new ordinary shares, and the subscription of 10,030,770 new ordinary shares at a price of 1.30p per placing and subscription share.

The AIM-traded firm said the placing, which was not underwritten, had been undertaken within the company's existing share authorities, and had been supported by both new and existing shareholders.

It said the placing was conditional on both the placing agreement between the company, Beaufort Securities and Panmure Gordon not being terminated prior to admission, and admission becoming effective on AIM.

The subscription, which was also made within the company's existing share authorities, was unconditional.

In addition, some of the directors intended to invest an aggregate amount of approximately £130,000 on the same terms as the subscription, including the issue price, the board confirmed.

A further announcement would be made once their participations had been completed.

The placing and subscription - when combined with the intended director participation - would result in the company raising gross proceeds of up to £2m.

Ariana said the net proceeds would be used in part for working capital support of its joint venture operating company, Zenit Madencilik San. ve Tic. A.S., a 50:50 partnership between Ariana and Proccea Construction, prior to the Kiziltepe operation achieving commercial production.

The proceeds would also be directed towards the continued exploration and development of the company's portfolio of advanced assets in Turkey, including Salinbas and Tavsan.

Operationally, the board said the ramp-up to full production capacity at Kiziltepe remained on track and is expected to be concluded by the end of June, following which quarterly production reporting would commence - and particularly once commercial production has been achieved.

“This fundraising was completed with the support of existing and new investors, who have recognised the substantial progress made by the company during the past year,” said Ariana chairman Michael de Villiers.

“In that time the company has entered production at it JV-owned Kiziltepe Mine, substantially added to its resource base at Kiziltepe, completed scoping at the JV-owned Tavsan Project and acquired the 1Moz Salinbas Project outright.

“Consequently, the company has significantly accelerated its project development across its portfolio in a short period of time and we are keen to ensure that this forward momentum is now maintained appropriately.”

De Villiers said the funding would now enable Ariana to maintain progress across its portfolio, and in particular help support its JV operation at Kiziltepe with partners Proccea, until commercial production is achieved.

“We would like to take this opportunity to welcome our new shareholders and look forward to updating all shareholders further with further news from across its portfolio of assets in the coming months.”