Tigris Resources

With Ariana's principal exploration and development focused around western and north-eastern Turkey, the company believes that south-eastern Turkey is the next great frontier for gold and copper exploration in Turkey. Effective exploration in this region requires a unique and dedicated management capability with a focused exploration mind-set.  As a consequence Ariana Resources made a strategic investment into Tigris Resources in 2010.  Tigris is a private exploration and development company focused gold and copper deposits in the highly prospective Tethyan Metallogenic Belt in southeast Turkey. Ariana is confident that the uniqe skills of the Tigris team will be applied to a region that hosts significant potential for the discovery of world-class deposits.

The funds raised by Tigris are for the acquisition of prospective exploration licences in the region (licence acquisitions are expected in the first quarter of 2011). The funds will also be used to support further greenfields target generation, ground reconnaissance and licence acquisition.  

The focus area of Tigris will be the Bitlis Suture Zone and flanking structures, which are highly prospective for a range of mineral deposit styles including porphyry Cu-Au systems, epithermal to Carlin-style deposits, skarns and volcanogenic massive sulphides.

Details of the Investment

Ariana participated in a private placement for 2.7 million shares at a total cost of CAD 115,000 resulting in Ariana owning 15% of the total shares issued by Tigris Resources.  Under this arrangement, Ariana appointed Dr Kerim Sener as a non-executive director to the board of Tigris.