Ariana reports promising new drilling results from Salinbas

Mineral explorer and developer Ariana Resources released new drilling and geophysical survey results from the Hizarliyayla area within its Salinbas Project in Turkey on Wednesday.

The AIM-traded firm said the findings suggested potential mineralisation similar to the world-class Hod Maden deposit, located to the south.

Recent drilling at Hizarliyayla, 100% owned by Ariana’s joint venture company Zenit, yielded promising results including 0.5 metres at 3.96 grams of gold and 28.65 grams of silver per tonne from a depth of 540.5 metres in hole HZR010, and 0.7 metres at 1.16% copper, 0.72% lead, and 29.39 grams of silver per tonne from 293.3 metres at HZR009.

It also highlighted 1.15 metres at 0.76 grams of gold and 22.09 grams of silver per tonne, and 1.46% zinc, from 300 metres, and 0.45 metres at 1.59 grams of gold and 47.28 grams of silver per tonne from 644.8 metres, both at HZR009.

The company also reported 0.4 metres at 10% zinc, 2.38% lead, and 317.01 grams of silver per tonne from 662.3 metres at HZR010.

Ariana said the results, when combined with geochemical and geophysical data, indicated that the area’s north-south-trending subvertical structure could be near a potentially-mineralised porphyry intrusion, akin to the structure found at Hod Maden, one of the highest margin development assets globally.

Additionally, Ariana completed a 12-kilometre induced polarisation survey, revealing significant chargeability and resistivity anomalies on Hizarliyayla's western flank.

The anomalies defined new exploration targets, prompting the company to extend its drilling programme by around 3,000 metres, focusing on the Salinbas and Ardala areas.

“The latest diamond drilling and geophysics results from the Hizarliyayla exploration programme continue to demonstrate the lateral extent and depth of the mineralised system,” said managing director Dr Kerim Sener.

“As we had predicted from the geological model, most of the better intercepts are located at deeper levels, in several places, below 500m from the surface.

“This was always an ambitious and challenging exploration programme.”

Dr Sener said the results still showed genuine potential in the location for mineralisation akin to the “nearby and world-class” Hod Maden deposit, 8.5 kilometres to the south.

“The opportunity at Hizarliyayla is therefore upgraded from a simple test of the geological model to a demonstration of targets.”

At 1131 BST, shares in Ariana Resources were down 6.98% at 2p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.