Quarterly update to shareholders

25 January 2011
AIM / PLUS Markets: AAU

QUARTERLY UPDATE TO SHAREHOLDERS

Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the gold exploration and development company focused on Turkey, is pleased to announce that it has released its Q4 2010 Quarterly Update to shareholders on the Company's website.

Highlights

• RESOURCE INCREASE: Announcement of a 25% increase in JORC compliant resources to 448,000 oz Au equivalent. 

• SHAREHOLDING: Following the purchase of 500,000 ordinary shares in Ariana, Starvest plc is now the beneficial holder of 13,456,000 ordinary shares or 6.06% of the issued share capital. 

• INVESTMENT IN TIGRIS RESOURCES: Announcement of a strategic investment in Tigris Resources Limited, a private company focused on gold and copper exploration in south-eastern Turkey. 

• RESULTS FROM JV PROPERTIES: Exploration results from the European Goldfields JV identify zones of wide and high-grade mineralisation at Salinbas and the discovery of a mineralised extension of the Ardala porphyry beneath cover. 

• RED RABBIT JV UPDATE: Ariana announce an increase to the registered capital of Zenit Madencilik San. ve Tic. A.S., the JV company held by Ariana and Proccea Construction Co. in Turkey. 

To view a full version of the Quarterly Update, please visit the Company's website at www.arianaresources.com.

Contacts:

Editors' note:

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 a Joint Venture with European Goldfields Limited in north-eastern Turkey.  European Goldfields owns 51% of this joint venture and, as the operator, is fully funding all exploration work on the JV properties until delivery of a feasibility study.

The Company's flagship asset is the Red Rabbit project, which contains the Kiziltepe and Tavsan sectors.  The project contains 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.  The Kiziltepe and Tavsan sectors, which are separated by a distance of 75km, are presently being assessed as to their economic merits and now form part of a Joint Venture with Proccea Construction Co.  The total resource inventory of the Company stands at 448,000 ounces of gold equivalent.  

Ariana also has a strategic investment in Tigris Resources Limited (www.tigrisresources.com), a private Jersey-based exploration company, which is focused on the exploration of copper and gold deposits in southeastern Turkey.  Ariana retains 15% of Tigris Resources Limited.

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