Ariana Resources PLC on Wednesday said initial results from drilling at its Salinbas project in Turkey have returned anomalous gold, silver and zinc.

The London-based exploration firm with interests in Turkey said the drilling, undertaken at the Hizarliyayla area of the project, has identified 0.34 grammes of gold per tonne, 2.83 grammes of silver and 0.13% zinc 23.1 metres depth.

Ariana said the grade of precious metals increases ‘with the depth of penetration into the system’. It suggests even more promising grades can be found at depths below 600 metres from surface.

The project, which is 23.5% owned by Ariana, is operated by Zenit Madencilik San ve Tic AS alongside Proccea Construction Co and Ozaltin Holding AS.

Ariana Resources has so far completed 2,548 metres of drilling, with a further 3,000 metres planned.

Managing Director Kerim Sener said: ‘These are an impressive set of initial drilling results from the Hizarliyayla prospect. We have long suspected the potential of the Hizarliyayla area, since it was first systematically mapped by our team in 2017.

‘Interestingly, the grade of both gold and silver intercepted in the current drilling has a tendency to increase with depth, suggesting that the deeper we drill, the better the grade and perhaps increasing proximity to a high-grade gold zone akin to Hot Maden.’

Hot Maden is a gold project also located in Turkey.

Ariana Resources shares fell 0.5% to 2.44 pence each in London on Wednesday afternoon.

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