Significant New Drilling Results at Tavsan
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Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the AIM-listed mineral exploration and development company with gold mining interests in Europe, is pleased to announce recent resource and extension drilling results from the Tavsan Project, outlining the progress of the mine development work. The project is operated via Zenit Madencilik San. ve Tic. A.S. ("Zenit"), in partnership with Proccea Construction Co. and Ozaltin Holding A.S. and is 23.5% owned by Ariana.
Highlights:
- Tavsan 2023 drilling campaign is still ongoing, with 8,994.3m completed; comprising 104 diamond drillholes drilled since November 2022.
- Best new intercepts to date include:
o TAV-D023-23 12.1m @ 2.52g/t Au + 9.38g/t Ag from 114.6m
o TAV-D027-23 11.0m @ 2.18g/t Au + 5.00g/t Ag from 137.3m
o TAV-D025-23 6.2m @ 3.54g/t Au + 4.56g/t Ag from 102.1m
o TAV-D020-23 8.8m @ 2.41g/t Au + 5.24g/t Ag from 45.3m
- 2,147 assay results received to date, with 809 remaining samples pending analysis at the Kiziltepe Mine Laboratory ("KML").
- Mine construction is advancing well according to current scheduling, with the first gold production expected during Q2 2024.
- Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented:
"The latest drilling results from the ongoing drilling programme at Tavsan continue to demonstrate scope for expanding the Resource. Some of our deeper holes on the project have been yielding high grades over c.10m intervals, which is highly encouraging and suggests that there may be further depth continuity to parts of the Tavsan deposit than previously indicated. Further drilling is underway, and we will continue to test the strike and depth continuity of mineralisation, particularly in the North Zone and North Zone Extension. We anticipate that approximately a further 5,000m of drilling is planned.
"We are currently working on revisions to our geological model based on the new data, which will ultimately contribute to a revised Mineral Resource Estimate. This in turn will be used to update production and development plans during Q1 2024, and we remain on track for first gold from Tavsan during Q2 2024."
Tavsan Project Summary
The Tavsan Project is located in western Turkey, 130km by road from the Kiziltepe Gold Mine. Following the approval of the Environmental Impact Assessment and associated permitting, Tavsan is being developed as Zenit's second gold mining operation in Turkey, and is currently in construction, with mining scheduled to begin in 2024.
Gold mineralisation at Tavsan is epithermal in style, with associated silver and antimony, broadly located along the thrust contact between Jurassic-Cretaceous massively bedded limestone and an overlying Upper Cretaceous multi-lithic ophiolite sequence. In addition, a karstic network within the limestone and fractures within the ophiolitic rocks potentially acted as conduits for the development of jasperoidal and generally silicified rocks, several tens of metres, below and above the thrust fault contact, respectively.
The mineralised jasperoid developed along the thrust contact is irregular in form on a ten-metre scale; however, broadly follows the gentle topography on a hundred-metre scale and is largely exposed at surface. In the vicinity of the NE-SW trending fault zone, the thrust is steeper than the topographic gradient, resulting in a more steeply dipping zone of mineralisation. The greatest thickness of gold-bearing jasperoid is observed near the NE-SW fault zone. However, gold concentration appears to have a dominant NW-SE control within the jasperoid as a whole, suggesting the potential for steeply dipping conduit structures cross-cutting the limestone units in the footwall.
Drilling Programme
The Tavsan mineral resource estimate was last updated and announced on 29 November 2022, with the Resource currently at 6.6 Mt at 1.44 g/t Au and 5.26 g/t Ag for 307,000 oz Au and 1.1 million oz Ag (all categories). The resource is de-risked, with 83% classified in the Measured & Indicated JORC Resource categories. The resource includes a high-grade domain of 1.1 Mt at 2.74 g/t Au and 4.89 g/t Ag for 96,000 oz Au and 171,000 oz Ag. There is a significant additional potential of 1.7 Mt of below cut-off grade material occurring in the 0.5 to 0.7 g/t Au range for c.34,000 oz Au, which is not currently classified as part of the resource.
Since November 2022, a resource infill and extension drilling programme has been underway at Tavsan, with drilling still ongoing. 104 drill holes for a total of 8,994.3m of HQ diamond drilling was completed over the North and Main zones at Tavsan. The average depth for all drilling was approximately 86m, with a minimum depth of 16.5m and a maximum depth of 255.2m. Most holes were drilled vertically, with 18 holes angled at 45 to 75o.
Figure 1: Summary map showing the completed drillhole collar positions for the Tavsan Project.
The best intercepts in this last batch of results included:
TAV-D023-23 12.1m @ 2.52g/t Au + 9.38g/t Ag from 114.6m
o including 1.0m @ 11.83g/t Au + 1.15g/t Au from 114.6m
TAV-D027-23 11.0m @ 2.18g/t Au + 5.00g/t Ag from 137.3m
o including 1.1m @ 5.98g/t Au + 5.98g/t Ag from 139.1m
TAV-D025-23 6.2m @ 3.54g/t Au + 4.56g/t Ag from 102.1m
o including 1.4m @ 10.64g/t Au + 1.84g/t Ag from 102.1m
TAV-D020-23 8.8m @ 2.41g/t Au + 5.24g/t Ag from 45.3m
o including 2.2m @ 6.25g/t Au + 3.75g/t Ag from 45.3m
- TAV-D022-B-23 9.4m @ 1.66g/t Au + 8.06g/t Ag from 225.2m
- TAV-D025-23 12.0m @ 1.23g/t Au + 2.46g/t Ag from 132.6m
- TAV-D109-22 12.9m @ 0.94g/t Au + 2.43g/t Ag from 73.6m
- TAV-D111-22 6.4m @ 1.82g/t Au + 5.94g/t Ag from 56.2m
The Tavsan drilling programme is still underway; with 809 samples for 632.1m of drill core pending for assay and multi-element analysis at the KML. To date, 2,147 results (incl. QA/QC) for 1,776.5m of diamond core have been received from the KML. For previous results from the Tavsan drilling programme, see announcement (AIM: 16 June 2022).
| Hole ID | From (m) | To (m) | Length (m) | Au (g/t) | Ag (g/t) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TAV-D98-22 | 16.7 | 17.7 | 1.0 | 0.54 | 0.25 |
| 39.1 | 40.2 | 1.1 | 0.72 | 5.14 | |
| TAV-D103-22 | 19.3 | 20.4 | 1.1 | 0.66 | 4.54 |
| 22.0 | 26.9 | 4.9 | 1.48 | 13.97 | |
| 41.5 | 46.5 | 5.0 | 1.04 | 0.25 | |
| 50.5 | 60.7 | 10.2 | 0.82 | 3.86 | |
| 67.0 | 68.0 | 1.0 | 0.55 | 0.25 | |
| 69.0 | 70.0 | 1.0 | 1.09 | 0.25 | |
| 73.0 | 74.0 | 1.0 | 0.57 | 0.25 | |
| TAV-D106-22 | 4.0 | 6.0 | 2.0 | 1.69 | 7.00 |
| 10.0 | 11.0 | 1.0 | 0.76 | 2.71 | |
| 27.8 | 28.8 | 1.0 | 1.25 | 3.77 | |
| 38.8 | 40.8 | 2.0 | 0.78 | 1.89 | |
| TAV-D108-22 | 112.0 | 113.0 | 1.0 | 0.50 | 0.91 |
| 113.9 | 114.9 | 1.0 | 0.51 | 0.72 | |
| 125.6 | 126.8 | 1.2 | 0.59 | 3.03 | |
| 142.5 | 143.8 | 1.3 | 0.52 | 0.25 | |
| 146.7 | 147.9 | 1.2 | 0.59 | 1.49 | |
| TAV-D109-22 | 57.5 | 62.1 | 4.6 | 0.59 | 3.83 |
| 73.6 | 86.5 | 12.9 | 0.94 | 2.43 | |
| 91.1 | 96.4 | 5.3 | 1.30 | 2.29 | |
| 101.3 | 103.3 | 2.0 | 0.69 | 0.25 | |
| TAV-D111-22 | 56.2 | 62.6 | 6.4 | 1.82 | 5.94 |
| 70.5 | 75.4 | 4.9 | 0.73 | 2.70 | |
| 76.7 | 77.9 | 1.2 | 0.80 | 1.65 | |
| 91.0 | 92.3 | 1.3 | 0.71 | 0.67 | |
| TAV-D112-22 | 16.5 | 19.3 | 2.8 | 1.16 | 10.60 |
| TAV-D113-22 | 86.9 | 92.4 | 5.5 | 1.35 | 4.67 |
| 103.4 | 104.7 | 1.3 | 0.55 | 0.25 | |
| TAV-D114-22 | 47.8 | 51.6 | 3.8 | 0.61 | 7.53 |
| TAV-D003-23 | 48.5 | 49.5 | 1.0 | 1.08 | 6.62 |
| 52.3 | 53.3 | 1.0 | 7.16 | 9.03 | |
| TAV-D004-23 | 43.0 | 44.0 | 1.0 | 0.59 | 2.46 |
| TAV-D005-23 | 35.8 | 37.3 | 1.5 | 0.81 | 7.76 |
| TAV-D011-23 | 136.4 | 140.5 | 4.1 | 0.85 | 1.21 |
| TAV-D017-23 | 23.5 | 24.7 | 1.2 | 0.74 | 11.02 |
| 26.8 | 27.8 | 1.0 | 0.53 | 2.57 | |
| TAV-D018-23 | 52.2 | 54.4 | 2.2 | 0.65 | 4.27 |
| TAV-D019-23 | 79.7 | 81.7 | 2.0 | 0.73 | 7.05 |
| 86.9 | 90.6 | 3.7 | 1.32 | 5.10 | |
| TAV-D020-23 | 45.3 | 54.1 | 8.8 | 2.41 | 5.24 |
| including | 2.2 | 6.25 | 3.75 | ||
| TAV-D021-23 | 117.6 | 120.3 | 2.7 | 0.92 | 16.22 |
| TAV-D022-A-23 | 206.8 | 209.6 | 2.8 | 1.63 | 5.53 |
| TAV-D022-B-23 | 209.3 | 218.1 | 8.8 | 1.03 | 12.20 |
| 220.1 | 223.0 | 2.9 | 0.67 | 13.21 | |
| 225.2 | 234.6 | 9.4 | 1.66 | 8.06 | |
| 244.7 | 249.6 | 4.9 | 0.65 | 3.97 | |
| TAV-D023-23 | 114.6 | 126.7 | 12.1 | 2.52 | 9.38 |
| including | 1.0 | 11.83 | 1.15 | ||
| TAV-D024-23 | 80.3 | 86.5 | 6.2 | 1.36 | 0.63 |
| 91.5 | 93.2 | 1.7 | 2.68 | 2.26 | |
| TAV-D025-23 | 102.1 | 108.3 | 6.2 | 3.54 | 4.56 |
| including | 1.4 | 10.64 | 1.84 | ||
| 129.4 | 130.6 | 1.2 | 0.79 | 3.42 | |
| 132.6 | 144.6 | 12.0 | 1.23 | 2.46 | |
| TAV-D026-23 | 80.9 | 86.0 | 5.1 | 0.81 | 5.12 |
| 101.2 | 102.4 | 1.2 | 0.62 | 9.15 | |
| 109.4 | 112.2 | 2.8 | 1.19 | 3.08 | |
| TAV-D027-23 | 137.3 | 148.3 | 11.0 | 2.18 | 5.00 |
| including | 1.1 | 5.98 | 5.98 | ||
| 167.4 | 170.7 | 3.3 | 1.63 | 4.30 | |
| 174.5 | 176.4 | 1.9 | 0.73 | 3.36 | |
| TAV-D028-23 | 115.0 | 116.1 | 1.1 | 0.62 | 12.06 |
| TAV-D029-23 | 137.8 | 140.4 | 2.6 | 2.14 | 16.21 |
| TAV-D032-23 | 89.7 | 93.4 | 3.7 | 1.15 | 11.06 |
| TAV-D033-23 | 121.3 | 126.3 | 5.0 | 1.21 | 21.39 |
| 133.8 | 134.8 | 1.0 | 0.78 | 2.85 | |
| 136.7 | 137.7 | 1.0 | 0.93 | 12.32 | |
| TAV-D035-23 | 8.3 | 9.3 | 1.0 | 2.16 | 4.11 |
| 24.5 | 25.5 | 1.0 | 0.75 | 4.97 | |
| TAV-D036-23 | 0.5 | 2.7 | 2.2 | 0.67 | 1.27 |
| 13.1 | 14.6 | 1.5 | 1.16 | 28.59 | |
| TAV-D037-23 | 47.3 | 48.3 | 1.0 | 0.63 | 0.25 |
Table 1: Significant gold and silver intercepts calculated for the results from the recent Tavsan drilling programme, using a 0.5g/t Au minimum cut-off and allowing for up to 1m internal dilution.
Samples obtained from Tavsan have been sent to the KML for analysis. The day-to-day operational samples from the Kiziltepe Mine have priority over the drilling samples from the development work underway at the Tavsan Project, causing a delay in receipt of results for the latest drilling programme at Tavsan.
Tavsan Mapping Programme
Detailed geological mapping work was undertaken on the Tavsan Project as part of the wider exploration work completed in 2022-2023 to identify spatial and temporal relationships between mineralisation and structural elements of the Tavsan deposit and the role of the faults in localising and transferring the fertile fluids. The work focussed on collecting geological and structural data via the mapping of local-scale and regional-scale features.
The collected data was used to build the 3D geological model (Figure 2) in more detail than had been previously possible. Future work on the project will include geophysical Induced Polarization/Resistivity studies, isotope analysis and geochronology of mineralised samples.
Figure 2: 3D model of the Tavsan deposit showing the potential extents of the mineralised jasperoid in pink.
Sampling and Assaying Procedures
All diamond drill core is currently being processed at the Tavsan Project and analysed at the KML, where results are assessed systematically.
HQ-size drill-core samples from the drilling programme at Tavsan were cut in half by a diamond saw and sent for analysis in batches in line with the Company's quality control procedures. During this campaign, core recovery for all drilling conducted at Tavsan was 89%.
To date, a total of 1,761 sample results for 1,776.5m of sampled drill core have been returned from the KML (plus 386 QA/QC samples). So far, 6.5% of all analysed samples have also been analysed by ALS Global in Izmir as an external laboratory check as part of the QA/QC procedures used for the project, with a 10% check rate to be achieved by the end of the drilling programme. The results are pending for a further 809 samples (including 171 QA/QC samples).
QA/QC sample insertion rates vary depending on the batch size accepted by the laboratory. Ariana sampling protocol requires the insertion of 4 QA/QC samples per batch including 1 blank, 1 CRM, 1 field duplicate and 1 pulp duplicate to assess the accuracy and precision of all stages of the sampling and analysis. During the 2021-2023 drilling, Zenit QA/QC protocol required 1 blank, 1 CRM, 1 field duplicate, 1 pulp duplicate and over 10% samples analysed at an external laboratory. The Zenit QA/QC protocol is under review by both Ariana and Zenit teams following the laboratory upgrade. Since October 2022, KML has been accredited by the Turkish Accreditation Agency (TÜRKAK) with 'TS EN ISO/IEC 17025:2017 General Requirements for the Competence of Experimental and Calibration Laboratory'.
Editors' Note:
Cleaned text: letterheads, contacts and legal notices removed. View the original announcement ↗ · Company filings. Not investment advice.