LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Exploration and development company Ariana Resources announced the start of diamond drilling on the Magellan Project in Cyprus on Thursday, via its earn-in on Venus Minerals.
The AIM-traded firm said drilling was underway at the Kokkinoyia sector of the project, with 1,260 metres planned to further test the known mineralisation, and to provide material for metallurgical testwork.

It said the drilling would provide confidence in the resource estimate, and specifically to better understand the distribution of gold and silver in the mineralised system.

The drilling was expected to continue in phases through the year, testing each of the Magellan Project's sectors.

"This represents the culmination of approximately three years of work by the team at Venus and builds upon the earlier percussion drilling programme which tested certain geological concepts concerning the distribution of volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits in the region," said managing director Dr Kerim Sener.

"We are excited to be underway and look forward to providing further updates to the market as the campaign progresses and as we commence additional drilling programmes through the course of this year."

Dr Sener said that, following the drilling of the Kokkinoyia sector, the company was expecting to move the rig to the Klirou and New Sha sectors of the Magellan Project.

"In addition to providing further understanding on the current resource estimate, we are expecting these programmes to provide sufficient mineralised material for metallurgical testwork, the results of which will be integrated into the Magellan scoping study."

At 1430 GMT, shares in Ariana Resources were up 2.13% at 4.8p.

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