LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Turkey-focused gold exploration and development company Ariana Resources announced the 100% acquisition of the Salinbas Gold Project from Eldorado Gold Netherlands, a subsidiary of Eldorado Gold Corporation, on Wednesday.
The AIM-traded firm said Salinbas had been part of a 49:51 joint venture with Eldorado since 2012, and previously with European Goldfields Limited from 2008 prior to their acquisition by Eldorado.

It said the Salinbas Project is located within a multi-million ounce gold field containing several significant gold-copper projects, notably the adjacent Hot Maden project.

Ariana would be the 100% owner of Salinbas following a net smelter return royalty of up to 2% on future production being granted to Eldorado.

The company was considering a focused work programme on Salinbas during 2017 to identify potential resource extensions and consider routes to commercialise the project.

Its board said the project area included the Salinbas Au-Ag deposit, the Ardala Cu-Au-Mo porphyry and the Hizarliyayla Au-Ag system.

Salinbas contained an approximately 10Mt indicated and inferred JORC resource, with an average grade of 2.0 g/t Au and 10.2 g/t Ag - for 650,000 oz gold and 3.2Moz of silver.

A scoping-study completed on Salinbas demonstrated potential for production of approximately 50,000 ounces of gold and 100,000 ounces of silver per annum over 10 years, providing an NPV(8%) in excess of US$100 million.

Ardala contained an approximately 16Mt Inferred JORC gold resource with a grade of 0.6 g/t Au - for 323,000 oz gold - and also contained up to 0.2% copper and up to 0.01% molybdenum domains.

"Completing this transaction with Eldorado on the Salinbas Project comes at a significant time in the evolution of the company," said managing director Kerim Sener.

"With the Kiziltepe Sector of the Red Rabbit Project due to enter production shortly, we are keen to enhance our project pipeline and to demonstrate a pathway to increased downstream production capacity."

Sener said the Salinbas Project represented a major opportunity for the future growth of Ariana, coming with approximately 1Moz in JORC Indicated and Inferred resources in its own right and in a region with significant exploration upside, as underscored by the recent discovery of the approximately 4Moz Hot Maden project just 16 kilometres to the south.

"We look forward to providing further updates on the project and towards enhancing its value in what is proving to be a multi-million ounce goldfield and one of the most prospective areas for new gold exploration in Turkey."

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