Ariana Resources PLC on Wednesday said that it is looking at ways to extend the life of the Kiziltepe mine, as first-half production came in line with expectations.

Ariana is a London-based mineral exploration and development company with gold mining interests in Turkey, Cyprus and Kosovo. The Kiziltepe mine is in Western Turkey, and is expected to produce at a rate of around 20,000 ounces of gold per annum until at least the middle of the decade.

During the first half, average monthly mine production at Kiziltepe was around 20,600 tonnes of ore. Total gold production for the period was 9,646 ounces of gold.

Further, a stockpile of over 104,000 tonnes is being maintained, representing 3 months of production capacity.

‘Our most recent drilling programme at Kiziltepe has identified some opportunities to build on the resource base in the immediate vicinity of known veins, as announced recently,’ said Managing Director Kerim Sener.

‘Further work on optimisation of the resource will be undertaken to determine the potential for further pushbacks of the current open pits.’

Ariana reaffirmed gold production guidance for 2023 from Kiziltepe at around 18,000 ounces of gold.

In other news, the company told investors that construction operations have continued at the Tavsan mine, which is also located in Western Turkey.

Several process plant components have arrived at site, it said, and are due to be installed over the coming months.

‘Construction operations at Tavsan are proceeding at pace and we are currently expecting the first gold pour to occur during H1 2024. Most components of the crushing plant have now arrived at site and steelwork for the [adsorption, desorption and recovery] plant is due to be installed during September 2023,’ said Sener.

Ariana Resources shares were trading 7.6% higher at 2.80 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.