Ariana Resources, a gold exploration and development company focused on Turkey, saw its shares leap by more than a fifth on Monday after announcing that drilling at its Salinbas and Ardala project has identified additional gold mineralisation.

The project is contained within its joint venture with Eldorado Gold Corp. in north-eastern Turkey.

The best intercepts in the Salinbas area include 31.10m at 1.38g per tonne of gold, 17.90m at 2.09g per tonne of gold and 2.25g per tonne of gold, while the best intercepts in the Ardala area include 81.5m at 1.28g per tonne of gold, plus 10.5g per tonne silver.

Dr. Kerim Sener, the group's Managing Director, said: "These latest results from the Salinbas and Ardala prospects further highlight the potential of this underexplored region of Turkey - an area where we continue to utilise our exploration expertise and regional knowledge to identify new potentially multi-million ounce deposits.

"The results reinforce our understanding of the geological potential of the area and suggest that the Salinbas Au-Ag system is related to the Ardala porphyry Au-Cu-Mo system, with gold and silver grades generally increasing towards Salinbas and base-metal grades increasing towards Ardala.

"The latest drilling in the area between Salinbas and Ardala indicate the continuity of mineralisation occurring within a 1.5km long zone which trends towards the porphyry, suggesting a genetic link and representing an area of significant future resource upside.

"This concept will be further investigated during drilling in 2013 as we remain focused on compiling an initial mineral resource estimate for the project and continue to advance it up the value curve."

The share price rose 22.22% to 1.65p by 08:45.

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