Cyprus Mail 23 August 2022 - by Kyriacos Nicolaou
 |
| The Apliki village in the Nicosia district |
Ariana Resources, a mineral exploration and development company with gold mining interests in Europe and listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange (LSE), earlier this month announced an updated Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for the Apliki Copper Project in Cyprus.
The mining project in Apiliki involves a formal conditional 50-50 joint venture agreement between Venus Minerals Ltd and Hellenic Apliki Mines Ltd.
Venus Minerals is focused on the exploration and development of copper and gold assets in Cyprus and is 50 per cent owned by Ariana Resources. In addition, Venus Minerals will acquire 50 per cent of Hellenic Apliki Mines.
According to the report, the MRE has been updated to a global Measured, Indicated, and Inferred Resource of approximately 17 megatonnes at a grade of 0.26 per cent to 0.69 per cent of copper extraction (0.34 per cent average) across Apliki, after further detailed assessment and modelling of historic data.
The increase was recorded after the addition of the Apliki Mine Pit Wall Resources for an additional 6.47 megatonnes at 0.32 per cent copper extraction, compared to the original estimates from 2021.
“Within two years, through Venus, Ariana has achieved its objective of establishing a substantial copper resource base in Cyprus, which now comprises 34 megatonnes with a grade range of circa 0.3 to 1.10 per cent copper,” Ariana Resources managing director Kerim Sener said.
“Even at the lower end of this grade range, and excluding the potential of by-product metals, such as gold, this represents substantial in-ground (risked) value,” he added.
Furthermore, Sener explained that this updated MRE follows the original MRE on Apliki completed last December, in which the company had noted that there were areas of potential resource upside, particularly in the Apliki Mine area and its related stockpiles.
The company said at the time that further work by the Venus team would be undertaken in those areas in order to continue building the resource base.
In addition, the Ariana Resources managing director said that the updated MRE for Apliki has arrived at an opportune time for the company, coming just before the proposed initial public offering (IPO) of Venus Minerals on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM).
Venus will also soon implement further project optimisation work to advance the Apliki Mine development programme with Hellenic Apliki Mines.
“Although market conditions remain less favourable than we would like, and while we cannot influence the markets, we are nevertheless eager to continue developing the assets within the Venus portfolio to enhance the value of the company ahead of a listing, but in the meantime, we are pleased to note that Venus has extended its option over Apliki to 31 December 2022,” Sener stated.
“Venus is a British and Cypriot-owned company which represents one of the most exciting near-term European copper mining opportunities in play today, in a jurisdiction that has been prized for its high-quality copper for time immemorial,” he concluded.
