4 March 2025

AIM: AAU

DOKWE PROJECT: IMPROVED IN-PIT RESOURCE

In-Pit Resources Increase by 9%

Improved Confidence in the Underlying Geological Model

Ariana Resources plc ("Ariana" or "the Company"), the AIM-listed mineral exploration and development company with gold project interests in Africa and Europe, is pleased to announce an updated in-pit Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") for the Dokwe Gold Project in Zimbabwe, utilising updated geological and economic inputs.

Highlights:

·    In-pit Measured and Indicated MRE of 19.7Mt at 1.54g/t Au for 977,000 ounces of gold at US$2,750 per ounce at a reporting cut-off of 0.6g/t Au (Table 1).

·    Total in-pit resource of 44.9Mt at 0.98g/t Au (Measured, Indicated and Inferred) for 1.42Moz of gold at a reporting cut-off of 0.3g/t Au, representing a circa 9% increase over the July 2024 pit optimisation, suggests considerable optionality for operational scheduling and staging.

·    Measured and Indicated Resources support a Feasibility Study investigating a 2Mtpa processing plant and a production rate of up to 100,000 ounces per annum over a ten-year mine life.

·    Resources based on a better constrained and higher confidence geological model, involving more effective estimation of the higher-grade zones within the deposit.

Dr. Kerim Sener, Managing Director, commented:

"This is an absolutely superb result for the Company and our shareholders.

"Dokwe is an advanced and high-value asset at the feasibility stage, which continues to demonstrate potential for development as a 2Mtpa operation over a ten-year mine life for a production rate of up to 100kozs per year. As part of the Feasibility Study, we are looking to stage our development pathway to minimise up-front capital expenditure, maximise early revenue and maintain significant long-term optionality across the production schedule.

"The revised optimised in-pit resource is supported by improved confidence in the underlying geological model. This outcome resulted from the work undertaken by our technical team, which dedicated several months to an extensive reappraisal of the geology and other technical details of the Dokwe deposit. I take this opportunity to thank them for their extremely valuable contributions.

"We are looking forward to fine-tuning other elements of our Feasibility Study through 2025, including a new drilling programme which we plan to commence in June. This programme will involve additional drilling for metallurgical and geotechnical purposes, as well as resource confirmatory and step-out drilling.

"Based on our current understanding of the broader exploration opportunity in the region, we fully expect Dokwe can be developed into a major mining hub in the longer term and as one of the most significant developments of its kind in Zimbabwe."

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.

Table 1: Dokwe Project 2025 Mineral Resource Estimate update summary table, capturing total resources for both Dokwe Central and Dokwe North in the latest 2025 optimisation pits shells at a reporting cut-off grade of 0.6g/t Au.

Notes:

1.   Resources reported under JORC 2012

2.   Resources are reported as both gross and net attributable to Ariana

3.   Canister Resources (Private) Ltd, an Ariana company is the operator

Background

The Dokwe gold deposits are located 110km west of Bulawayo, within the western continuation of the Bulawayo-Bubi Greenstone Belt (Figure 1), where the basement rocks hosting the deposits are overlain by 25-40m of Karoo and Kalahari sedimentary units.

Figure 1: Aeromagnetic image showing the location of the Dokwe Project, and large gold mines and deposit clusters in the Bulawayo-Bubi Greenstone Belt.

The Dokwe North deposit consists of a sequence of Archaean intermediate to felsic volcanic rocks, interbedded with layers of agglomerate and tuff. A quartz-feldspar porphyry intruded into the upper part of the sequence. The Archaean rocks have been folded, metamorphosed to greenschist facies and sheared. Gold is particularly concentrated where a sub-vertical shear zone interacts with lithological contacts, which typically dip towards the southeast at a moderate angle. All Archaean rock types exhibit some degree of gold mineralisation, with the principal host rocks being dacite, tuff and porphyry. Coarse visible gold is a characteristic feature of this deposit, with higher-grade zones developing along discrete shear zones (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Top - visible gold grains in the dacite (left) and the quartz-feldspar porphyry at Dokwe North.

Bottom - petrological polished thin-section under reflected light showing gold grains "free" and not bound within sulphide minerals.

Dokwe Central is a smaller, higher-grade pipe-like deposit containing abundant quartz veins and several steeply plunging high-grade zones. The Dokwe North and Central deposits are strongly structurally controlled, occupying two distinct structural domains within a broader ENE trending shear zone.

The extent of gold mineralisation at the two deposits is defined by 141 diamond drill holes and 57 percussion drill holes across both resource areas. For Dokwe North, the total metres drilled is 32,686m (116 holes) and for Dokwe Central, 5,271m (25 holes), for a combined total of 37,957m of drilling. Average collar spacing is approximately 50m and 30m in Dokwe North and Dokwe Central, respectively. At both deposits there are indications that the mineralisation remains open in several directions (Figure 3 and Figure 6).

Following the addition of new data from five geotechnical holes drilled as part of the 2022 Dokwe North Pre-Feasibility Study ("PFS"), Ariana has undertaken a comprehensive review of the Dokwe North deposit. This has led to a better understanding of the rock types and geological structures, with better constraints on the style of gold mineralisation. These improvements in understanding and the new assay data have formed the basis for the updated MRE presented herein. In addition, the Company has adapted its technical approach to modelling and estimation. The Company has determined to report in-pit Mineral Resources rather than Global Resources, as this better emphasises the criteria of "reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction" as referred to in the JORC Code.

The Dokwe Central geological model has been updated to incorporate the current understanding of the exploration data, as announced to AIM on 24 October 2024, in which a second fault zone constrains the resources towards the west. In addition, new data derived from the due diligence drilling programme is included and minor changes have been made to the estimation input parameters.

Figure 3: Plan view of the Dokwe Central shear zone, and subsequent NNE-SSW offsets. The implication is that the drilling does not adequately test the continuity of the mineralisation, which is interpreted to remain open along strike and at depth.

Previous Resource and Reserve Estimates

Since 2004, the Project has undergone ten phases of drilling involving over 42,000 metres, two MRE's, and several geotechnical and metallurgical studies. In March 2022, an independent PFS was completed by Minxcon (Pty) Ltd in South Africa ("Minxcon"), based on the Dokwe North JORC 2012 classified in-pit resource of 35.71Mt at 1.05g/t Au for 1.2 million ounces of gold. Dokwe Central was not included in the PFS as it had not been estimated in accordance with JORC 2012 at that time. A combined Proven and Probable JORC 2012 Ore Reserve comprising 18.25Mt at 1.36g/t Au for 795,800 ounces of gold was estimated for Dokwe North based on a gold price of US$1,650 per ounce.

During 2023 and 2024, Ariana drilled four holes at the two deposits for 1,222 metres as part of its due diligence work when evaluating the Project. The Company also analysed over 28,000 metres of drill core with a portable XRF to improve the geological model. This enabled the Company to undertake a new MRE for the Dokwe North and Central deposits utilising geological rather than assay domains, which is considered more appropriate for the style of mineralisation. This resulted in a combined Global JORC 2012 Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resource totalling 1.83 million ounces of gold, as announced on 13 June 2024. On 10 July 2024, Ariana announced revised optimisation results for the Dokwe North and Central deposits based on this estimate, giving an in-pit resource of 1.31 million ounces of gold.

Updated Mineral Resource Estimate

The latest iteration of the MRE incorporates several changes since the MRE was announced on 13 June 2024. The most significant revision includes a new geological model, which constrains mineralisation within three geologically defined domains at Dokwe North, leading to a more robust mineralisation model. Improved confidence in the new model has enabled the more advanced Ordinary Kriging estimation method to be employed, in preference to the previous Inverse Distance Weighting Squared methodology. Further details regarding the use of Ordinary Kriging in Ariana's latest MRE update for Dokwe North are contained within JORC Table 1 on the Company website.

The three new mineralisation domains used in this latest MRE are (Figure 5A):

1) Zones of intense ductile deformation logged through the deposit as foliation intensity; as a means to map out the primary extent of a mineralising shear zone (Shear Zone Domain). The influence of a major shear zone on mineralisation conforms to the 'structurally controlled orogenic model' that is common to many Archaean gold deposits around the world.

2) A sub-domain within the Shear Zone Domain, which is statistically defined to be a sub-population of higher-grade data, which uses a 0.7g/t Au interpolant shell with extrapolation to a maximum distance of 150m (High-grade Domain).

3) A wider interpolant, modelling the maximum footprint of mineralisation in all peripheral areas away from the main shear zone; modelled at a 0.1g/t Au cut-off with a 150m extrapolation (Low-grade Domain).

Figure 5: A) The 2025 mineralisation domains based on defining the Dokwe North mineralised shear zone. B) The 2025 rotated sub-block model (filtered to 0.3g/t Au), showing the location of the "Western" fault (not mineralised), which is likely displacing mineralisation to the west, generating a significant exploration target. C) The 2025 rotated sub-blocked model (filtered to 0.6g/t Au). D) The 2025 block model filtered to 3g/t Au, showing multiple narrow zones of high-grade mineralisation outlining the core of the Dokwe North Shear Zone.

Composites of gold grade within each domain were completed using a 1m best fit routine. The application of a "semi-soft" boundary with a 1-4 metre range (depending on the domain) was used in the estimation to allow data points outside (to a maximum distance of 4m) of the domain boundaries to influence the estimation of grade in blocks inside the boundary, realistically influencing the mineralisation domains at both a local and larger scale.

The core of the shear zone was mapped out by relogging multiple holes, paying particular attention to deformation textures and lithological off-sets. From this, a central "core" plane was constructed to simulate the zone of maximum ductile deformation within Dokwe North. This was further modelled using rock fabric and lithological contact measurements collected from orientated drill core.

The Dokwe North shear zone has been defined to be approximately 150m wide, after which foliation intensity in the surrounding rocks decreases rapidly along with gold grades. Mineralisation, particularly in the high-grade domain, is not strictly constrained by ductile deformation features, but is significantly influenced by lithological contacts and changes in unit characteristics. Therefore, to incorporate this into the modelling, the various geological contacts defined from over 28,000 pXRF readings and logging were coded into the structural model in Leapfrog, to allow a 'blending' of influence to contribute to the estimation search directions.

Gold grade within each domain was evaluated to identify the effect of higher gold values exceeding 20g/t Au. A closer evaluation of the data showed a reasonable clustering of higher-grade data exceeding 0.7g/t Au, which outlines the core of a major shear zone with several smaller parallel shear zones. Therefore, it was decided to sub-domain this population of data from the main shear zone model.

To preserve some of the high grades within the high-grade Domain, it was determined that a hybrid method consisting of a 200g/t Au top-cut and an Outlier Restriction should be applied. The 200g/t Au top-cut reduces the outlier high grades to within range of other very high grades. The Outlier Restriction further reduces the bias by constraining the effect of high grades at a distance (approximately 5-10 metres in this case). Values beyond the restricted distance were clamped to 100g/t Au to prevent the excess influence of very high grades. The capping of the other domains was evaluated through variography analysis to support the Ordinary Kriging estimation method, and then it was backed up by an Outlier Restriction.

Variogram modelling for Dokwe North was completed to support the Ordinary Kriging estimation method. Each domain contained a single search pass extrapolated to a maximum search of 180 metres. Good variograms were achieved for each domain in all ellipse axes. The Coefficient of Variation values within the supporting statistics was reviewed and deemed satisfactory, given the moderate nugget effect of the deposit.

For the 2025 estimation update of Dokwe North, a revised block model geometry was applied to better represent mineralisation strike and continuity. The new block model has been rotated to an azimuth of 47 degrees. The model is now sub-blocked, using the mineralisation domain boundaries as a sub-blocking trigger. The parent blocks are 10m x 20m x 10m (X,Y,Z), with sub-blocks of 5m x 5m x 5m (X,Y,Z). Views of the new block model for Dokwe North can be seen in Figure 5.

Resource Classification

The Dokwe Project MRE is classified in accordance with the JORC Code (2012) with Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resources (Tables 1-3). The style of mineralisation has been identified, the controls on mineralisation are well understood, and measurements and sampling have been completed to a high degree of confidence for the mineralisation present (Appendix 1). It is considered reasonable to expect that some of the Inferred Mineral Resources could be re-classified as Indicated Mineral Resources with continued exploration; however, due to the uncertainty of Inferred Mineral Resources, it should not be assumed that such upgrading will always occur. It is also reasonable to expect that portions of the Indicated Mineral Resources could be upgraded to Measured Mineral Resources with some additional infill data. Reporting of tonnages and metal content is based on the application of a 0.6g/t Au reporting cut-off for both Dokwe North and Dokwe Central (Table 3).

Confidence in the MRE is sufficient to allow the results of the application of technical and economic parameters to be used for further planning in a Feasibility Study. However, additional drilling may be required to help support metallurgical and other technical studies. In addition to supporting a Feasibility Study, this revised MRE will assist in the targeting of future exploratory and resource drilling to expand the resource, particularly in areas surrounding the northern and southwestern extents of Dokwe North and the deeper extents of Dokwe Central.

Table 2: The Revised Dokwe Project in-pit Mineral Resource, revised as of 4 March 2025. Based on 141 drill holes. Reporting is based on a 0.3g/t Au cut-off grade for both Dokwe North and Dokwe Central. Figures in the table may not sum precisely due to rounding.

Table 3: The Revised Dokwe Project in-pit Mineral Resource, revised as of 4 March 2025. Based on 141 drill holes. Reporting is based on a 0.6g/t Au cut-off grade for both Dokwe North and Dokwe Central. Figures in the table may not sum precisely due to rounding.

Figure 6A: Left - Dokwe North 2025 rotated, sub-block model in plan view, showing the Resource Classification. Right - Long-section through Dokwe North 2025 sub-blocked model filtered to 0.3g/t Au, highlighting the exploration potential.

Figure 6B: Left - Dokwe Central updated 2024 regularised block model in Plan view;

Right - Long-section through Dokwe Central filtered to 0.3g/t Au, showing the down-dip exploration potential.

Sampling and Assaying Procedures

All diamond drill cores are currently being processed at the ISO-credited Antech Laboratory in Zimbabwe. As part of Ariana's normal operational procedures, 10% of samples are duplicated from spilt core and sent to a second commercial laboratory (ALS Global in Johannesburg), for check assay.

Results are being assessed systematically and grouped according to the individual deposits drilled within the Dokwe Project area. PQ, HQ and NQ size drill-core samples from the programme were cut in half, and then half again for a quarter core sample. This was completed using a diamond drill core saw. Samples were sent for analysis in batches per the Company's quality control procedures. In most cases, three-quarters of core remain in the archived core trays.

For the four DD drill holes, a total of 761 samples (including 125 QA/QC samples) were submitted to the Antech Laboratories. Core recovery for all drilling conducted at the Dokwe Project during this campaign was 98.62% for a total of 545 measurements.

All samples were assayed for gold using a 50g fire assay. Reviews of the assay results have

determined that all Quality Control and Quality Assurance samples (blanks, standards and duplicates) passed the 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. The Company maintains an archive of core samples and a photographic record of all cores for future reference.

Contacts:

Beaumont Cornish Limited ("Beaumont Cornish") is the Company's Nominated Adviser and is authorised and regulated by the FCA. Beaumont Cornish's responsibilities as the Company's Nominated Adviser, including a responsibility to advise and guide the Company on its responsibilities under the AIM Rules for Companies and AIM Rules for Nominated Advisers, are owed solely to the London Stock Exchange. Beaumont Cornish is not acting for and will not be responsible to any other persons for providing protections afforded to customers of Beaumont Cornish nor for advising them in relation to the proposed arrangements described in this announcement or any matter referred to in it.

Editors' Note:

The information that relates to Mineral Resources is based upon information compiled by Mr. Zack van Coller BSc (Hons), Targeting Group Leader, Ariana Resources plc. Mr. van Coller is a Fellow of The Geological Society of London, and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposits under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined by the 2012 edition of the Australasian Code for the Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code). Mr. van Coller has over 10 years of relevant experience in the Technical Assessments of Mineral Properties. Mr. van Coller consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.

The information in this announcement that relates to exploration results is based on information compiled by Dr. Kerim Sener BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD, Managing Director of Ariana Resources plc. Dr. Sener is a Fellow of The Geological Society of London and a Member of The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and has sufficient experience relevant to the styles of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity that has been undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined by the 2012 edition of the Australasian Code for the Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code) and under the AIM Rules - Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies. Dr. Sener consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.

About Ariana Resources:

Ariana is an AIM-listed mineral exploration and development company with an exceptional track-record of creating value for its shareholders through its interests in active mining projects and investments in exploration companies. Its current interests include a major gold development project in Zimbabwe, gold production in Türkiye and copper-gold exploration and development projects in Cyprus and Kosovo.

Ariana owns 100% of the Dokwe Gold Project ("Dokwe") in Zimbabwe. Dokwe is made up of the Dokwe North and Dokwe Central gold deposits which are located in the Tsholotsho District near the city of Bulawayo. The deposits have a combined in-pit JORC Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resource of over 1.42 million ounces of gold (as at March 2025) and the project represents the largest undeveloped gold project in Zimbabwe.

The Company holds 23.5% interest in Zenit Madencilik San. ve Tic. A.S. a joint venture with Ozaltin Holding A.S. and Proccea Construction Co. in Türkiye which contains a depleted total of c. 2.2 million ounces gold equivalent (as at March 2024, using a price ratio of 90 Ag to 1 Au). The joint venture comprises the Kiziltepe Mine and the Tavsan and Salinbas projects.

The Kiziltepe Gold-Silver Mine is located in western Türkiye and contains a depleted JORC Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resource of 171,700 ounces gold and 3.3 million ounces silver (as at March 2024). The mine has been in profitable production since 2017 and has been producing at an average rate of c.22,000 ounces of gold per annum. A Net Smelter Return ("NSR") royalty of 2.5% on production is being paid to Franco-Nevada Corporation.

The Tavsan Gold Mine is located in western Türkiye and contains a JORC Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resource of 311,000 ounces gold and 1.1 million ounces silver (as at March 2024). Following the approval of its Environmental Impact Assessment and associated permitting, Tavsan is being developed as the second gold mining operation in Türkiye and is currently in construction. A NSR royalty of up to 2% on future production is payable to Sandstorm Gold.

The Salinbas Gold Project is located in north-eastern Türkiye and contains a JORC Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resource of 1.5 million ounces of gold (as at July 2020). It is located within the multi-million ounce Artvin Goldfield, which contains the "Hot Gold Corridor" comprising several significant gold- copper projects including the 4 million ounce Hot Maden project, which lies 16km to the south of Salinbas. A NSR royalty of up to 2% on future production is payable to Eldorado Gold Corporation.

Ariana owns 76% of UK-registered Western Tethyan Resources Ltd ("WTR"), which operates across south-eastern Europe and is based in Pristina, Republic of Kosovo. The company is targeting its exploration on major copper-gold deposits across the porphyry-epithermal transition. WTR is being funded through a five-year Alliance Agreement with Newmont Mining Corporation (www.newmont.com) and is separately earning-in to up to 85% of the Slivova Gold Project.

Ariana owns 61% of UK-registered Venus Minerals PLC ("Venus") which is focused on the exploration and development of copper-gold projects in Cyprus, containing a combined JORC Indicated and Inferred Resource of 16.6Mt @ 0.45% to 0.80% copper (excluding additional gold, silver and zinc).

Ariana owns several investments in listed and private companies via its Australian subsidiary Asgard Metals Pty. Ltd. ("Asgard"), which also provides technical input into the various investee company exploration programmes. Investments have been made in high-value potential, discovery-stage mineral exploration companies located across the Eastern Hemisphere and within easy reach of Ariana's operational hubs in Australia, Türkiye, UK and Zimbabwe. Its most advanced interest is through a 4.9% holding of Panther Metals Limited (ASX: PNT).

Panmure Liberum Limited and Zeus Capital Limited are brokers to the Company and Beaumont Cornish Limited is the Company's Nominated Adviser.

For further information on Ariana, you are invited to visit the Company's website at www.arianaresources.com.

Glossary of Technical Terms:

"Au" chemical symbol for gold;

"CIL" Carbon in Leach processing;

"DD" Due Diligence;

"g/t" grams per tonne;

"Global Resources" Total project resources, both contained within pits and outside, including mineralisation with potential for underground development; 

"In Pit Resources" Resources which are constrained by optimisation pit shells, with "current" economic inputs, which define minable mineralisation, and demonstrates reasonable prospects for economic extraction;

"Inferred Mineral Resource" is that part of a Mineral Resource for which quantity and grade (or quality) are estimated on the basis of limited geological evidence and sampling. Geological evidence is sufficient to imply but not verify geological and grade (or quality) continuity. It is based on exploration, sampling and testing information gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes. An Inferred Mineral Resource has a lower level of confidence than that applying to an Indicated Mineral Resource and must not be converted to an Ore Reserve. It is reasonably expected that the majority of Inferred Mineral Resources could be upgraded to Indicated Mineral Resources with continued exploration;

"Indicated Mineral Resource" is that part of a Mineral Resource for which quantity, grade (or quality), densities, shape and physical characteristics are estimated with sufficient confidence to allow the application of Modifying Factors in sufficient detail to support mine planning and evaluation of the economic viability of the deposit. Geological evidence is derived from adequately detailed and reliable exploration, sampling and testing gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes, and is sufficient to assume geological and grade (or quality) continuity between points of observation where data and samples are gathered. An Indicated Mineral Resource has a lower level of confidence than that applying to a Measured Mineral Resource and may only be converted to a Probable Ore Reserve;

"JORC" Joint Ore Reserves Committee;

"k" thousand

"km" Kilometres;

"m" Metres;

"Measured Mineral Resource" is that part of a Mineral Resource for which quantity, grade (or quality), densities, shape, and physical characteristics are estimated with confidence sufficient to allow the application of Modifying Factors to support detailed mine planning and final evaluation of the economic viability of the deposit. Geological evidence is derived from detailed and reliable exploration, sampling and testing gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes, and is sufficient to confirm geological and grade (or quality) continuity between points of observation where data and samples are gathered. A Measured Mineral Resource has a higher level of confidence than that applying to either an Indicated Mineral Resource or an Inferred Mineral Resource. It may be converted to a Proved Ore Reserve or under certain circumstances to a Probable Ore Reserve;

"MRE" Mineral Resource Estimate;

"M" million

"oz" Troy ounces;

"Probable Ore Reserve" is the economically mineable part of an Indicated, and in some cases, Measured Mineral Resource. The confidence in the Modifying Factors applying to a Probable Ore Reserve is lower than that applying to a Proven Ore Reserve;

"Proven Ore Reserve" is the economically mineable part of a Measured Mineral Resource. A Proven Ore Reserve implies a high degree of confidence in the Modifying Factors;

"Reasonable Prospects for Eventual Economic Extraction" or RPEEE is a term used in the JORC code which states that the resource as reported should have an assumed profitability within a realistic and defined time period. It is accepted that the method of extraction (open pit or underground) and the method of processing needs to have been reasonably determined (but not necessarily finalised) at the time of reporting;

"t" tonnes;

Note: All resources stated above are gross to the respective project unless otherwise stated.

Ends.