Update on Turkish Mining Interests

Ariana Resources plc (AIM: AAU, ASX: AA2, "Ariana" or "the Company"), the mineral exploration and development company with gold project interests in Africa and Europe, is pleased to provide an update on its mining interests in Türkiye, through its 9.9% shareholding in Zenit Madencilik San. ve Tic. A.Ş. ("Zenit").

Highlights:

• Tavşan operations have completed ramp-up and ore is currently being loaded onto the heap-leach pads at the required rate of 4,000 tonnes per day.
• Various operational improvements continue to be made at Tavşan, including several enhancements relating to crushing, screening and agglomeration.
• Kiziltepe interests have been transferred into a separate legal entity through an in specie distribution to the shareholders of Zenit, to allow for potential future transactions.
• Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented:

"We remain very pleased with the progress being maintained at the Tavşan Mine. In the past six months, the operation has been brought successfully through ramp-up, and the heap-leach is performing as expected. Various enhancements are continuing to be made as operational activities progress. Recent diamond drilling in the vicinity of the existing open pits and in the broader area has aimed to identify potential extensions to the mineralisation. Zenit are currently assessing these results and making appropriate revisions to the mining plans. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the operational team at Zenit and its contractors for these efforts.

"Meanwhile, our interests at 9.9% in the Kiziltepe Sector have been transferred into a new entity, through an in specie distribution to the shareholders of Zenit. This has been done for many reasons but specifically to ensure profits generated from the Tavşan Mine are retained within Zenit going forward and allow for a potential transaction relating to the Kiziltepe Sector to be conducted independently of Zenit in the future.

"Looking ahead, we are currently working towards the potential sale of our remaining legacy interest of 9.9% in the Kiziltepe Sector to Proccea Construction Co. This prospective sale will allow Ariana the opportunity to ensure that its interests in Türkiye are further simplified, while simultaneously reducing any future financial exposure or other liabilities from legacy assets."

Tavşan

Mining and processing operations at Tavşan are progressing well, and ramp-up is complete (Figure 1-4). Various operational improvements are continuing to be made, particularly for crushing and screening operations, including the installation of covered areas to hold run-of-mine ore to minimise the moisture content of this material ahead of crushing. Ore stocks at various grades are being maintained at about 750,000 tonnes. Notably, a very low-grade stockpile has been established, which contains material in the grade range of 0.2 to 0.5 g/t Au; this is being done with the expectation that the gold price will remain at elevated levels as the mine continues to develop and may be processed at the end of mine life.

The operation is currently achieving its specification crushing and screening rate of 4,000 tonnes per day or better. As a further improvement, the agglomerator has also been covered from the elements, which enhances overall performance. This enables the loading of approximately 60,000 tonnes of ore per month onto the heap-leach pad; approximately 350,000 tonnes of ore is currently being heap-leached, and irrigation of the heap-leach pad is currently occurring over the majority of its surface area. The Adsorption-Desorption-Recovery ("ADR") circuit is performing at specification and gold recovery is being maintained at operationally expected levels of c.70%.

Mining activities are continuing across two open pits, and the strip ratio to date has averaged 2.3, for a total of 1.6Mt of ore, inclusive of high-grade material previously processed at the Kiziltepe operation. New drilling data obtained from the latest diamond drilling programme at Tavşan is continuing to be assessed. There is good potential to expand the currently defined open-pits based on the expansion drilling completed in these areas. There is also potential for some of the open pits to merge into larger pits as mining activities continue and once grade-control drilling provides sufficient additional data.

Kiziltepe

Zenit Madencilik San. ve Tic. A.Ş. has recently completed an in specie distribution of Kiziltepe Sector interests to the shareholders of Zenit, including the underlying assets and liabilities associated with Kiziltepe. This isolates these interests in a separate legal entity, which ensures that profits generated from the Tavsan operations are retained within Zenit going forward and allows for a potential transaction relating to Kiziltepe to be conducted independently of Zenit. The Company is currently working towards the sale of its 9.9% interest in the new Kiziltepe separate legal entity to Proccea Construction Co. in advance of a separate transaction which is expected to be undertaken by Proccea Construction Co. and Özaltin Holdings A.Ş. with a third party. The Company will provide a further update on this matter in due course.

Figure 1: Higher grade ore zones in the Bariş Pit (previously Main Pit) seen as more rusty coloured areas in the pit walls, including the ore awaiting loading by the excavator

Figure 2: View from the Çakmak Pit (previously North Pit) overlooking lower grade stockpiles, with the crushers and screens buildings to the middle right and mine office and depot facilities to the middle left of the frame

Figure 3: View of the heap-leach pad showing the current status and areas under active irrigation

Figure 4: ADR processing plant to the right and the processing water ponds to the left

Compliance Statements