Resource World Magazine

F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 1 7 www.resourceworld.com 17 Hot growth for Mariana Resources by Jennifer S. Getsinger, PhD, PGeo MARIANA RESOURCES LTD. [MARL- TSXV, AIM (LSE)] recently announced a new PEA (Preliminary Economic Assessment) on its JV copper-gold property, Hot Maden, in northeastern Turkey. The numbers are very robust: a Base Case study indicates, at a 1 million tonne-per-year throughput, an after-tax IRR of 153%, an after-tax NPV of US $1.37 billion, payback of 2.1 years and a nine-year mine life. Mariana is a junior, mineral exploration company based in Sydney, Australia, with assets and joint ventures in various parts of the world, most notably its JV devel - opment project with Lidya at Hot Maden in northeastern Turkey. Mariana holds 30% of the Hot Maden Project, whereas a 70% interest is held by its partner, Lidya Madencilik Sanayi ye Ticaret A.S. Mostly concentrating on gold and cop - per exploration, Mariana's worldwide portfolio of prospects includes advanced exploration projects in Argentina (in the Puerto Deseado area, such as Las Calandrias), and more grassroots explo - ration projects in Chile, Peru, Suriname, and Côte D'Ivoire, as well as its 100% owned Ergama gold project in northwest- ern Turkey. By far, the most promising, in terms of raising Mariana's value in a few short years, is the Hot Maden Project. In a recent telephone interview, Glen Parsons, CEO, in Mariana's Sydney office, sounded excited by the PEA figures. He said, "Mariana has a strategic focus on asset scale, prospectivity and economic potential in mining friendly jurisdictions." All of Mariana's holdings are located in prospective geological settings with historical as well as modern mining pro - duction in copper and/or gold. According to the 2016 NI 43-101 technical report for Hot Maden, Turkey's geological setting is within the Alpine orogen, formed in con- tinental collision during the Mesozoic to Cenozoic eras. Hot Maden is located within the Eastern Pontides tectonic-metallogenic belt, in a mountain chain extending along the southern shore of the Black Sea. The northeastern region in Turkey is host to mixed deposit types including "transitional type tending to porphyry cop - per deposit style" and volcanogenic massive sulphides, whereas Hot Maden tends to be more like an "epigenetic polymetallic vein type, perhaps with intermediate-sul- phidation epithermal (or sub-epithermal) affinities". The genetic model is currently "sub-volcanic hydrothermal" with "brec- cia style mineralization formed between the epithermal and porphyry levels". In short, complex but richly mineralized. Although the known exploration trail at Hot Maden goes back as far as Russian mining in the late 1800s, it is believed that the area was mined previously, per - haps in medieval times, or even earlier by the Romans. Many mining companies, including Teck and Cominco, have shown interest in the Hot Maden property. Mariana bought out Aegean, which had acquired its shares from Teck. Translated from local languages, "Hot Maden" means something like "Grass Mine". Even more intriguing than its name, the resource numbers from Hot Maden are worth a look. Results reported in September 2016 from the NI 43-101 for Hot Maden can be summarized as follows: Indicated resources: 2.79 million oz gold plus 166,000 tonnes copper (3.43 million oz gold equivalent). Inferred resources: 375,000 oz gold plus 17,000 tonnes cop - per (439,000 oz gold equivalent). Zinc Zone indicated: 11,600 tonnes zinc; inferred, 114,000 tonnes zinc. This resource estimate is the basis of the PEA. Parsons was enthusiastic about the speed at which this project has grown in the two years since Mariana has been involved and said that the plan includes a "solely underground mine with a low- impact design", starting with a decline 350 metres deep by 75 metres wide. Good recovery numbers are forecast for both copper and gold, with no use of cyanide; 88% for gold and 90% for cop - per. Although free gold occurs, at first it will be mined within the pyritic areas. Optimization of high-grade zones in cop- per and pyrite areas is one of the factors in the cost-benefit analysis. Total metal production over the nine- year mine life is estimated at 2.6 million oz gold and 142,000 tonnes copper under the Base Case scenario. Upfront CAPEX is US $169 million with a life-of-mine CAPEX of US $261 million. Mining operating costs will be US $31.05/tonne while processing costs will be US $15.13/tonne. Another 20,000 metres of diamond drilling is budgeted for 2017. The altera - tion zone of interest extends 2.5 km to the north of the area used in resource calcula- tions, and to the south lie the historical Russian mining workings, which have not yet been re-explored in this century. n MINING

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