Ariana Resources plc announceda further set of results from the Hizarliyayla area of the Salinbas Project and outline the progress of the geophysical survey over the area. The project is operated via Zenit Madencilik San. ve Tic.

A.S. ("Zenit"), in partnership with Proccea Construction Co. and Ozaltin Holding A.S. and is 23.5% owned by Ariana. The Hizarliyayla prospect is located 9 kilometres southwest of the Salinbas and Ardala area and about 8.5 kilometres north of the Hot Maden Au-Cu deposit.

Hizarliyayla is defined by an area of approximately 1,500 metres by 800 metres, containing an argillic to advanced-argillic alteration zone with pervasive disseminated pyrite, silica, and minor gold at surface. Drilling commenced on the project in late December 2022, and to date, 10 drill holes have been completed for a total of 6,005.8 metres. The objective of the Hizarliyayla drilling programme was to systematically test several soil geochemical targets and intense clay alteration areas.

Drillholes were initially planned to 200-300 metre depths; though, most holes intercepted far more alteration and mineralisation than expected. These holes continued to a maximum depth range of 400-800 metres, with the deepest hole being HZR010, which was drilled to 797 metres. All holes intercepted sporadic intermediate sulphidation (Ag-Pb-Zn±Au) type breccia and vein mineralisation which is typically encountered in the periphery of porphyry-style mineralisation.

The Hizarliyayla drilling programme was completed in September 2023; however, 2,467 samples for 2,154 metres of drill core remain pending for assay and multi-element analysis at the Kiziltepe Mine Laboratory. To date, 4,503 results for 3,852 metres of diamond core have been received from the KML. In the weeks leading up to the 2023 Hizarliyayla drilling campaign, the Ariana exploration team completed the collection of over 200 infill soil samples for multi-element assay analysis at ALS Global.

This was merged with historic sample results to yield a high-resolution geochemical map containing 1,098 soil samples in the immediate area. This data was extensively interrogated by in-house geochemistry team. Principal Component Analysis identified significant correlations with key elements .

The PCA clustering of these elements was plotted and utilised as primary targets for the now-completed drilling programme. Furthermore, the soil geochemistry also identified a significant zoning of base-metal and precious metal elements. This work was a key factor in the design of the drilling programme.

Concentrations of precious metals are often indicative of the core of a mineralising system, whereas base metals tend to form on the periphery, and therefore represent lower-priority targets. A geophysical Pole-Dipole IP-Resistivity survey commenced in November 2023 to aid the resolution of deeper targets. The 2,500-metre survey lines are oriented broadly perpendicular to the structures in the area, roughly north-south, at 200-metre line spacing.

Electrodes are spaced at 50-metre intervals, using a mixed array type of surveying. This provides high resolution near surface, but also deeper signals at lower resolution. The survey parameters have been optimised for depths of up to 500 metres.

To date, three lines have been completed, with the remaining three on hold due to unsuitable weather. Processing and interpretation of the results are ongoing and will be used to better target future drilling. All diamond drill core is currently being processed at the Ardanuc depo facility in Artvin and analysed at the Kiziltepe Mine Laboratory.

Results are assessed systematically and are grouped according to individual mineralised zones at the Salinbas Project. HQ-size drill-core samples from the drilling programme at Hizarliyayla were cut in half by a diamond saw and sent for analysis in batches in line with the Company's quality control procedures. Core recovery for all drilling conducted at Hizarliyayla during this campaign was 82%.

To date, a total of 3,617 sample results for 3,852 metres of sampled drill core has been returned from the KML (plus 886 QA/QC samples). So far, 2% of all analysed samples have also been analysed by ALS Global in Izmir as an external laboratory check as part of the QA/QC procedures used for the project, with a 10% check rate to be achieved by the end of the drilling programme. Results are pending for a further 2,467 samples.

QA/QC sample insertion rates vary depending on the batch size accepted by the laboratory. Ariana sampling protocol requires the insertion of 4 QA/QC samples per batch including 1 blank, 1 CRM, 1 field duplicate and 1 pulp duplicate to assess the accuracy and precision of all stages of the sampling and analysis. During the 2021-2023 drilling, Zenit QA/QC protocol required 1 blank, 1 CRM, 1 field duplicate, 1 pulp duplicate and over 10% samples analysed at an external laboratory.

The Zenit QA/QC protocol is under review by both Ariana and Zenit teams following the laboratory upgrade. The KML has undergone an extensive expansion to meet the significant demands for sample assaying, from both the mining and exploration teams. This expansion is complete with the onsite laboratory, now housing seven furnaces, two ICP-OES instruments, two Atomic Absorption spectrometers, three drying ovens, three crushers and three pulverisers. The laboratory upgrades have allowed for a doubling of sampling throughput (70 samples per day to 135).

The two major upgrades for 2021 included the addition of 1) a multi-element ICP-OES (Perkin Elmer Avio 550) analyser, and 2) an Elementrac CS-I sulphur-carbon analyser. The ICP-OES provides the team with a full suite of elements on selected samples. New operating procedures are currently being internally reviewed and calibrations of the new instruments are being assessed.

As part of this, the laboratory team are sending over 10% of their crushed rejects from selected drill core samples to ALS Global in Izmir for check assays. Zenit's internal QA/QC data and sample duplicates have been reviewed and are considered approved for Ariana's reporting purposes. In addition, since October 2022, KML has been accredited by the Turkish Accreditation Agency (TÜRKAK) with `TS EN ISO/IEC 17025:2017 General Requirements for the Competence of Experimental and Calibration Laboratory'.

All samples were assayed for gold using a 30g fire assay. Multi-element ICP was used for copper, lead, molybdenum, and zinc analyses. Reviews of the assay results have determined that all Quality Control and Quality Assurance samples passed the required quality control checks established by the Company, with duplicate samples showing excellent correlation.

Laboratory sample preparation, assaying procedures and chain of custody are appropriately controlled. Zenit maintains an archive of half-core samples and a photographic record of all cores for future reference.