The samples came from a trenching programme last month at the site, which is 50km from its operating 50%-owned Kiziltepe mine.

Ariana said it made sure to excavate only mineralised sections because the aim was to test processing options for Kizilcukur, which has a JORC resource of 33,000 ounces gold.

"Care was taken to ensure that each trench was positioned over the exposed vein so as to only extract mineralised material, resulting in five quartz-vein dominant stockpiles being formed," the company said.

Investors liked the prospect of a wider trial processing plan for mid-2019, which will see 300t of high-grade material processed at the Kiziltepe CIL plant, pushing the share price up 7.6% to 1.83p (US2.35c).

Ariana managing director Kerim Sener said the bulk sampling results showed the project's promise.

"These bulk sampling results demonstrate that the Kizilcukur deposit has the capacity to act as a source of high-grade satellite feed to the Kiziltepe processing plant," he said.

"We are encouraged by the results of this recent work and the current drilling programme will add confidence to the resource estimate for the Zeki Pit as part of our feasibility work programme."  

Drilling at the site will continue in the coming weeks, after snow and ice had stopped work.