LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Ariana Resources announced the start of exploration drilling at its wholly-owned Dokwe Gold Project in Zimbabwe on Tuesday, marking a key step toward expanding resources at the 1.4 million-ounce deposit.
The AIM- and ASX-listed explorer said the initial 26-hole reverse circulation (RC) drilling campaign, covering 4,000 metres, would test four target areas identified through recent geochemical and structural work.

It said the programme aimed to identify additional mineralisation along the 12-kilometre shear zones that host the existing resource, of which only about 10% had been drilled to date.

Drilling had started at the Dokwe North Extension target, following a regional soil survey that collected more than 10,000 samples across the 44-square-kilometre project area.

Ariana said initial assay results were expected before the end of the year, with scope to expand the programme to include metallurgical drilling at Dokwe Central.

"We are now well underway with our drilling programme at Dokwe, which has the objective of testing several targets identified in recent exploration work," said managing director Dr Kerim Sener.

"Several areas of potential have been highlighted from the results of the soil geochemistry programme completed over the past few months.

"We look forward to seeing the first results of this programme prior to the end of this year and have contingency to allow for an expanded RC campaign, as required."

He added that the firm was also planning for the initial metallurgical work at Dokwe Central to be completed using RC drilling chips.

"Some diamond drilling will also be required on this area in the future, including for geotechnical purposes, but the results of this initial programme of RC drilling will go substantially towards defining the most appropriate and cost-effective future work activities for the feasibility study."

The Dokwe project currently hosts a total mineral resource of 1.42 million ounces of gold at a 0.3 g/t cut-off, including 1.12 million ounces at a cut-off of 0.6 grams per tonne, according to estimates reported under the JORC code in March 2025.

Gold mineralisation was primarily associated with major shear zones separating volcanic and sedimentary units, which Ariana said remaied largely untested along most of the strike length.

It added that drilling results from Dokwe North, Central and nearby prospects such as Sinkwe and Siduli Pan would guide follow-up work and could inform the next phase of feasibility studies on the project.

At 1554 GMT, shares in Ariana Resources were up 0.27% at 1.49p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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