Name of the Project
Dokwe gold project.

Location
Tsholotsho district, about 110 km west-northwest of Bulawayo, in Zimbabwe.

Project Owner/s
AIM and ASX-listed mineral exploration and development company Ariana Resources, through its Zimbabwean subsidiary, Canister Resources.

Project Description
The revised prefeasibility study (PFS), released in May 2026, considers an openpit mining operation, with mining from two separate deposits. Dokwe North is planned to be mined in four stages, while Dokwe Central is planned as a single-stage pit.

Mining will use standard excavator-and-truck methods, with drill-and-blast operations required for all material types except soil profiles and cover material. The project has an updated mineral resource estimate of 62.46-million tonnes grading 0.80 g/t gold containing 1.59-million ounces of gold, at a 0.2 g/t gold cutoff. This comprises measured resources of 21.05-million tonnes grading 0.92 g/t gold for 621 500 oz, indicated resources of 29.33-million tonnes grading 0.75 g/t gold for 711 700 oz and inferred resources of 12.08-million tonnes grading 0.68 g/t gold for 264 700 oz.

The revised production schedule is based on a maximum 2.5-million-tonne-a-year processing plant and a high-grading production strategy. High- and medium-grade ore will be preferentially processed during the initial mining phase, while low-grade ore will be stockpiled and processed later.

The project is expected to produce 1.06-million ounces of gold over the life-of-project. This includes an initial 12-year openpit mining and processing phase producing about 80 000 oz/y of gold, followed by an eight-year stockpile processing phase producing about 20 000 oz/y.

Peak production is estimated at 100 000 oz/y. Ore will be trucked to the run-of-mine pad.

Processing will comprise crushing and grinding, followed by a gravity circuit and standard carbon-in-leach processing for oxide/transitional material and carbon-in-pulp processing for fresh material. 

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
At a gold price of $4 250/oz, the project has a pretax net present value (NPV), at a 10% discount rate, of $1.06-billion and an after-tax NPV, at a 10% discount rate, of $740-million. The internal rate of return is estimated at 92%. Payback is estimated at about 1.2 years from the start of processing operations.

Capital Expenditure
Preproduction capital expenditure is estimated at $163.9-million. This comprises $117.4-million for site establishment and construction, and $46.5-million in preproduction mining expenses to be capitalised.

Planned Start/End Date
Ariana is progressing work on the definitive feasibility study, which is due for delivery in the first quarter of 2027.

Latest Developments
Ariana is undertaking a three-rig, 3 700 m diamond drilling programme at Dokwe, supported by Xinhai Mining Group, to obtain additional geotechnical and metallurgical data for the definitive feasibility study (DFS). Further upside may come from the conversion of resources at Dokwe Central into reserves, as well as from recently reported extensions to Dokwe North and Dokwe Central. 

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Auralia Mining Consulting (revised PFS, including pit optimisation, design, production scheduling and cashflow modelling); Whittle Consulting (2025 strategic optimisation study); Xinhai Mining Group (updated processing capital and operating costs estimate, and ongoing diamond drilling programme for the DFS); and Open House Management Solutions (geotechnical stable slope design study for Dokwe North).

Contact Details for Project Information
Ariana Resources, tel +44 203 476 2080 or email info@arianaresources.com.