(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors - UK) Ariana Resources (LON:AAU) has found another potential satellite for its Kiziltepe mine in Turkey after unearthing decent gold grades near the surface at Kepez West.
The prospect is 12km from the proposed processing plant at Kiziltepe where production is scheduled to start in the second half of this year.
Drilling across 1300m of strike at Kepez West confirmed a significant near-surface mineralised system said Araiana.
Most of the holes drilled were shallow with an average depth of 77m and a maximum depth of 108m.
Best of the assays were 6m at 2.7g/t gold and 16g/t silver and 4m at 3.2g/t Au and 23g/t Ag.
A stockwork vein-hosted style of mineralisation should be amenable to low strip-ratio open-pit mining Ariana added.
More surface exploration is planned with eventual inclusion in the Kiziltepe production schedule if it goes well.
Kerim Sener Ariana's managing director said many of the drilling intercepts returned good grades of gold and silver within close proximity to surface.
'This is extremely encouraging as it suggests that any resource potential is likely to be very shallow in this area and therefore amenable to low strip-ratio open-pit mining.
'Our future work will focus on defining a shallow resource in this area which in time may be scheduled with the output from our nearby Kiziltepe Mine which will be entering production in H2 2016."
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