Ariana’s Dokwe drilling adds weight to Zimbabwe development plans

Dokwe drilling returns broad and high-grade gold zones

Ariana Resources plc (ASX:AA2, AIM:AAU) has produced the kind of drilling results that can materially shape a feasibility study, with 24 metres at 4.71g/t gold from 172 metres at Dokwe North and 98 metres at 2.85g/t from 91 metres at Dokwe Central. The intercepts included narrow but exceptionally high-grade sections of 2 metres at 46.95g/t and 1 metre at 93.72g/t respectively. The results came from 2,822 metres across 15 metallurgical holes completed during the September quarter, adding to the company’s existing 1.6 million-ounce Dokwe resource.

The results had already been released in September, but the quarterly report shows how they are being folded into the project’s next technical stage. Ariana said the drilling demonstrated extensive high and moderate-grade mineralisation forming the core of Dokwe North and Central, while four further diamond holes on the eastern flank returned results including 8 metres at 1.45g/t and 2 metres at 17.31g/t. The company’s September Dokwe drilling results had previously reported the same broad intercepts and eight tonnes of samples sent for metallurgical work.

Independent resource and reserve updates move into preparation

AMC Consultants has been commissioned to prepare an independent Mineral Resource Estimate under the JORC 2012 Code, incorporating the metallurgical drilling and extensions to the northeast of Dokwe North and south of Dokwe Central. Auralia Mining Consultants is separately working on the Ore Reserve update. Both remain in preparation, so the current 1.598 million-ounce resource and 1.135 million-ounce Dokwe North reserve remain the relevant published estimates rather than outcomes of the new work.

Feasibility activity is broadening beyond drilling. Twelve water-bore holes totalling 2,155 metres are being drilled north of Dokwe to test the Forest Sandstone aquifer, while eight tonnes of samples have reached Xinhai’s laboratory in Yantai, China. Twenty-eight composites have been prepared for testwork in China and Australia. Geotechnical drilling at Dokwe Central is also complete, and Knight Piesold is assessing alternative waste-dump and tailings-storage layouts, including conventional slurry, filtered tailings and combined tailings-and-waste-rock options.

Turkish portfolio sale leaves Ariana with Tavsan exposure

Ariana completed the sale of its remaining 9.9% Kiziltepe interest to Proccea Construction for US$3.7125 million in cash in July, alongside a further US$0.8 million received from Zenit to settle an intercompany debt. The transaction removes Ariana’s interest in the concluded Kiziltepe operations, while the company retains 9.9% of Zenit and a board seat covering the Tavsan mine and Salinbas project. The Kiziltepe stake sale had earlier been framed as part of a sharper focus on Dokwe.

Zenit produced and sold 8,102 ounces of gold from Tavsan in the quarter for US$34.6 million in revenue, taking nine-month production and sales to 17,940 ounces and revenue to US$81.4 million. Those are Zenit operating figures, not Ariana group revenue, although Ariana remains entitled to its pro rata share of future dividends. The heap-leach pad held about 723,000 tonnes of ore at quarter-end, with another 632,000 tonnes stockpiled for loading in coming months.

£17.3 million cash balance funds the next work programme

Ariana ended September with £17.3 million in cash and no drawn financing facilities. The Appendix 5B recorded £3.593 million of relevant quarterly outgoings, producing an estimated 4.8 quarters of funding at that spending rate. That calculation is a snapshot rather than a guarantee: the Dokwe programme is expanding, and the company still has to complete resource, reserve, metallurgical, water, infrastructure and environmental work before any development decision.

The next milestones are therefore technical rather than operational. Ariana plans further sterilisation drilling at Dokwe in the fourth quarter, with an initial 23 reverse-circulation holes covering 2,300 metres followed by 14 holes covering 1,400 metres. The key question is whether the updated resource and reserve work, testwork and mine-layout studies convert encouraging geology into a bankable project without exhausting the cash cushion now available.