BANKABLE FEASIBILITY & ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STUDIES COMMENCE

30 September 2010
AIM / PLUS Markets: AAU

BANKABLE FEASIBILITY & ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STUDIES COMMENCE

Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the gold exploration and development company focused on Turkey, is pleased to announce the formal commencement of its Bankable Feasibility Study ("BFS") and Environmental Impact Assessment ("EIA") on the Kiziltepe Sector of the Red Rabbit Project.  Our joint venture partners, Proccea Construction Co. ("Proccea"), are providing specific funding for the BFS and EIA as part of Phase 1 of their earn-in on the joint venture.

Highlights:

• Wardrop, A Tetra Tech Company (Wardrop), UK, selected to manage the BFS

• SRK Consulting, Turkey, selected to manage the EIA

• Approx. US$ 1.4 million committed by Proccea to fund Phase 1 of the joint venture, inclusive of BFS and EIA costs

• Formal commencement of BFS and EIA complement ongoing project studies being completed by the joint venture partners

Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented:

"Following the detailed review of quotations from various international consulting firms, the board of our joint venture company, Zenit Madencilik, has selected Wardrop to complete a bankable feasibility study, and SRK Consulting to complete an environmental impact assessment of the Kiziltepe Sector of the Red Rabbit Project.

Certain sub-contractors in Turkey will be sourced to support specific aspects of the BFS and EIA.  Sub-contractors are likely to be utilised to support engineering and design studies for the open-pit, tailings dam and local road-works.

Project kick-off meetings will occur in Turkey next week and, based on current work schedules, we are expecting to complete the BFS and EIA in the third quarter of 2011.  We are also in the process of completing licence transfers from our subsidiary to the JV company.  A revised JORC resource estimate for Kiziltepe is also due in October to coincide with the initiation of BFS project work."
Contacts:

Editors' note:

Dr Kerim Sener, BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD, is the Managing Director of Ariana Resources plc.  A graduate of the University of Southampton in Geology, he also holds a Master's degree from the Royal School of Mines (Imperial College, London) in Mineral Exploration and a doctorate from the University of Western Australia.  He is a Fellow of The Geological Society of London and has worked in geological research and mineral consultancy in Southern Africa and Australia.  He has read and approved the technical disclosure in this regulatory announcement.

About Ariana Resources

Ariana is an exploration and development company focused on epithermal gold-silver and porphyry copper-gold deposits in Turkey.  The Company is exploring a portfolio of prospective licences selected on the basis of its in-house geological and remote-sensing database, on its own in western Turkey and in Joint Venture with European Goldfields Limited in north-eastern Turkey.

The Company's flagship assets are its Sindirgi and Tavsan gold projects.  Both projects contain a series of prospects, within two prolific mineralised districts in the Western Anatolian Volcanic and Extensional (WAVE) Province in western Turkey.  This Province hosts the largest operating gold mines in Turkey and remains highly prospective for new porphyry and epithermal deposits.  These core projects, which are separated by a distance of 75km, are presently being assessed as to their economic merits.  The total resource inventory of the Company stands at 401,000 ounces of gold equivalent.

Loeb Aron & Company Ltd. and Alexander David Securities Limited are joint brokers to the Company and Beaumont Cornish Limited is the Company's Nominated Adviser.

For further information on Ariana you are invited to visit the Company's website at www.arianaresources.com.

Ends