Mariana Resources Ltd is an AIM and TSX quoted exploration and development company with an extensive portfolio of gold, silver and copper projects in Argentina and Chile. In southern Argentina, in addition to the Las Calandrias gold-silver discovery, the Company has the Sierra Blanca silver-gold prospect (70%); the Los Amigos joint venture (49%) with Hochschild Mining and a 160,000 Ha land package (100%) in the country. All of these projects are located in the Deseado Massif epithermal gold-silver district in mining-friendly Santa Cruz province of southern Argentina, which hosts four mines and several advanced projects. In Chile, Mariana has a joint venture with US based international mining and natural resources company Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., to explore for iron oxide-copper-gold deposits (‘IOCG’) in a 92,000 km² area (“SCM Mariana Area”) in north-central Chile along the highly prospective Atacama Fault Zone. The SCM Mariana Area includes the 44km² Buenaventura and 46km² Perro Chico IOCG projects. Mariana is also evaluating a number of gold-silver and copper-gold opportunities away from the Cliffs JV area, as part of a new initiative.



The Guardian-Our share tips for 2012...

Nick Fletcher

Aim listing mining group Mariana Resources has a number of gold and silver projects in Argentina and Chile, and recent drilling results from its Sierra Blanca site have been encouraging. AngloGold Ashanti recently showed confidence in Mariana by paying 12p a share to take a 19.9% interest, with the cash helping to fund the company's drilling programme for the next 12 months or so. This news prompted analysts at Fox Davies to put a 22p target on the shares, currently 10p. There is plenty of scope for consolidation among mining companies in the region, and in the long term Mariana may look at selling some of its projects, seek further partnerships with major mining groups or agree to a takeover.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/dec/27/share-tips-for-2012
Capital Structure
At 31 January 2012.

Issued capital 228,740,487 Ordinary shares Unrestricted on AIM, none held in Treasury. 47,105,557 Restricted on TSX
Options 16,611,000

Significant Shareholders
The holders of more than 3% of the fully paid shares on 31 January 2011 are listed below:

Name No. of shares held % held
AngloGold Ashanti Holdings Plc 45,418,212 19.86
Hochschild Mining Holdings Limited 11,002,948 4.81
Craton Capital 8,000,000 3.50
Australian Investors P/L 7,547,500 3.30

* Percentage of shares not in public hands - Directors and management hold 4.50% of issued

Given as a Play of the week in todays' Shares'.
Recent profit taking and minor disappointment have seen price falls over recent weeks,but believes prospects look very good. Priced at 22.5

Chessplayer: Seems as though someone else read the same article. The following was posted on another BB:
Today's article in Shares Magazine.
"All eyes on Mariana drilling - another round of exploration could push the miner's valuation to new highs"
It says the imminent drilling programme could see Mariana repeat its recent success with finding gold and silver, so buy ahead of this event...

Mariana signs Las Calandrias drilling contract
StockMarketWire.com
Mariana Resources has signed a drilling contract for a minimum 10,000m programme at its Las Calandrias gold-silver project in Argentina.

The programme is expected to start during the first week of September and take about four months.

The first of two rigs will be mobilised on-site at the end of August 2010 with a second rig to follow at the end of September.

Mariana says it expects drilling will result in a maiden resource estimate at Las Calandrias' Calandria Sur target by the end of the fourth quarter of 2010.

Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

Mariana JV starts Buenaventura drilling
StockMarketWire.com
Mariana Resources says drilling has been started at the Buenaventura iron-oxide-copper-gold project in Northern Chile by SCM Mariana, its joint venture with Cliffs Natural Resources.

A programme of up to nine diamond drill holes is testing a number of IOCG targets. Assay results are expected from late September.



Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

The next few months look company transforming for Mariana.

Goldcorp to buy Andean Resources for $3.42 billion
Goldcorp to buy Andean Resources for $3.42B; will get access to Cerro Negro gold project

.
Companies:Genpact Ltd..On Friday September 3, 2010, 7:14 am EDT
NEW YORK (AP) -- Canada's Goldcorp Inc. says it has agreed to buy Andean Resources Ltd. for about 3.6 billion Canadian dollars ($3.42 billion).

The acquisition would give the Canadian gold producer access to Andean's Cerro Negro gold project in Argentina, wich is said to have a significant amount of gold and silver.

The deal has been approved by both companies' boards. They expect it to close later this year or in early 2011.

Under terms of the deal, each Andean common share will be exchanged for 0.14 Goldcorp shares or a cash payment in the amount of 6.50 Canadian dollars ($6.17) per share.

The maximum cash consideration will be 1 billion Canadian dollars ($948.6 million).

Shareholders can choose stock, cash or a combination of the two.

Mariana starts drilling in Argentina
StockMarketWire.com
South American explorer, Mariana Resources says that drilling has started at its wholly owned Las Calandrias gold-silver project in Argentina.

MD John Sutcliffe comments: "The 10,000m drill programme will fast-track the Calandria Sur bulk tonnage target towards a maiden resource estimate.

"In tandem with this, exploration drilling of the Calandria Norte bonanza grade vein-breccia gold/silver mineralization and new El Nido targets could further expand the project's economic potential."

Mariana Resources (MARL:AIM) 25.75p Gain to date: 15.7% BUY

Shares in the explorer continue to nudge ahead as a new drilling programme begins and one of its neighbours enters a bidding war. We turned buyer of Mariana (MARL:AIM) at 22.25p (Shares, 29 Jul) in the belief investors would buy as more drilling is done to look at the quality and quantity of gold on its properties in Argentina. It is searching in a prosperous location that has attracted interest from major gold companies. Nearby miner Andean Resources (AND:ASX) last week
received a $3.2 billion takeover bid from Toronto-listed Eldorado (ELD:TSX), then trumped by a $3.5 billion approach from Goldcorp (GG:NYSE) which wants its hands on the targets numerous discoveries. As Shares went to press, market rumours suggest Yamana Gold (YAU) and AngloGold Ashanti (AU:NYSE) were considering counterbids.
Amid this merger and acquisition frenzy, there are high expectations for Marianas drilling results, so investors should accept high levels of risk with this stock. (DC)"

-Shares Magazine 9/9/2010

Could be at a new high soon!

Seems the whole Patagonian area is about to explode and Mariana is right in the middle of it:

Minera IRL in new gold/silver discovery at Escondido
StockMarketWire.com
Latin American-focused miner Minera IRL has announced a new gold/silver discovery at its Escondido Project in Patagonia.

The exploration target is the extension on to the company's Escondido exploration license of neighboring Mariana Resources' Calandria Sur discovery.

Chairman Courtney Chamberlain said, 'We are very excited with the results of this first round of drilling at Escondido, which has demonstrated substantial, near-surface intersections of gold/silver mineralization with a strike length exceeding 600 meters.

'This indicates the potential for a bulk tonnage development opportunity.

'While the Mariana team discovered this precious metal mineralized system, the Minera IRL drilling is a credit to our exploration team and represents a significant discovery on our ground.'

Minera IRL had earlier announced a gold and silver anomalous outcropping breccia occurrence that has been mapped on surface for some 700m, generally over 100m wide, striking south-east from the Mariana southern lease boundary.

Assay results from the first-pass scout drilling program into the Northern Breccia Zone at Escondido have now been received. Ten of the eleven holes into the target area have intersected substantial zones of mineralized breccia.

Planning is under way for an expanded drilling program at Escondido before the end of 2010. In addition, pathfinder metallurgical testwork will be undertaken shortly

Comment from FinnCap re Minera; Mariana is mentioned once again!

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/stock-alert/mrldf_dj-minera-irl-makes-gold-discovery-at-escondido-patagonia-1169345.html

"DJ Minera IRL Makes Gold Discovery At Escondido, Patagonia
Posted on: Wed, 15 Sep 2010 03:56:20 EDT

LONDON, Sep 15, 2010 (Dow Jones Commodities News via Comtex) --

Latin America-focused gold miner Minera IRL Ltd. (MIRL.LN) Wednesday said it had made a gold and silver discovery at its Escondido project in Patagonia.

Minera said the discovery is linked to Mariana Resources Ltd.'s (MARL.LN) neighboring Calandria Sur discovery, adding the combined discoveries extend over a kilometer in length.

Further drilling and metallurgical work at Escondido is planned, Minera said.

Joe Lunn, an analyst at brokerage FinnCap, said the discovery at Escondido has positive implications for both companies as it suggests that the gold endowment is larger than previously thought.

Lunn added the southern part of South America, in which the two companies operate, is becoming one of the world's top addresses for gold exploration. Canada's Goldcorp Inc. (G.T) recently offered to buy Andean Resources Ltd. (AND.AU), an Australian gold miner operating in Argentina's Santa Cruz province, for $3.45 billion.

September 21, 2010

Mariana Looks To The Assay Gods For Favour, As A Resource At Las Calandrias Draws Near
By Alastair Ford

Mariana Resources is just about to embark on a 10,000 metre drill campaign on the Las Calandrias property in Santa Cruz, Argentina. The aim is to provide enough data for the company to deliver a maiden resource, work on which will start as soon as the drill rigs complete the programme, towards the end of December. That the market is optimistic about what Mariana will come up with hardly needs emphasising. Since the company delivered its discovery at Las Calandrias, the shares have rocketed from 4p to just shy of 34p, as the market lapped up the idea of a new low grade bulk tonnage target in Santa Cruz, and then went into a frenzy when it became apparent that there was also a bonanza grade zone just 700 metres to the north of the initial Calandria Sur discovery.
Just to give a flavour of what punters have been buying into, on the south section of Las Calandrias, Mariana has intercepted 102 metres at 1.2 grams per tonne gold, 92 metres at 1.6 grams per tonne, and 102 metres at 1.4 grams per tonne, while on the north section its hit one metre at 348 grams per tonne gold and 312 grams per tonne silver, and 0.75 metres at 443 grams per tonne gold and 307 grams per tonne silver. In a rising gold market, a bulk tonnage opportunity at virtually the same location as a high grade bonanza discovery is almost manna from heaven.

MARL this afternoon being punted by Tom Bulford of Penny Shares in his newsletter:

Another gold miner with imminent newsflow is Mariana Resources (ticker: MARL). I met 65-year-old managing director John Sutcliffe in London last week.

One of the sectors greybeards, John is not one to over-egg the pudding. Even so, he described the gold grades found from two drill samples at Marianas Las Calandrias North gold mine in Santa Cruz, Argentina, as bonanza.

This is off the scale, he told me. The best I have seen in 45 years.

The question to which we will soon have an answer is whether these extraordinarily gold-rich samples were flukes or part of a broader seam. If the latter, then the shares could take off and Mariana could eventually go the same way as another Santa Cruz gold and silver miner Andean Resources. Thats up 205% in 2010. As the big miners scramble for proven reserves, Andean is being fought over by Goldcorp Inc and Eldorado Gold Corp in a $2bn bidding war.

New article, click HERE

Reference to said article, mention of 91p upside does it for me!

..FinnCaps Lunn has taken a stab at valuing Las Calandrias and reckons it is worth 41p a share based on a resource of 600,000 ounces of gold. However his matrix gives an upside case of 91p.

We think that the enlarged mineralised footprint at Calandria Sur, proved up by the recent drilling campaign, has the potential to contain up to 500,000 ounces of low grade, bulk tonnage mineralisation, Lunn said in a note to clients shortly after the summer fundraiser.

But our re-rating of the shares is primarily due to the bonanza gold grades encountered at Calandria Norte, located 700 metres away.

Although only two ore grade holes have been drilled so far, we believe that Calandria Norte has the potential to become the standout discovery at Las Calandrias.

new presentation out today

http://www.marianaresources.com/pdf/presentation/Mariana_London_Sep_2010.pdf

Does anyone have any thoughts on the appointment of Mr. Randy Turner as Non-executive Director to the Board, effective from 7 October 2010. Is he there only to assist in fund raising with the proposed dual listing on the Toronto stock exchange or given his track record of negotiating the sale of mining stock is there another possibility in the wings?

loadsadosh: I think it's just a case of strengthening their team ahead of the development of Las Calandrias into profitable mine. They've today announced the purchase of the ranch on which their deposits have been found:

Mariana Resources Ltd ('Mariana' or 'the Company'), the AIM quoted exploration
and development company focussed on Argentina and Chile, has purchased the
Estancia La Calandria and thereby the freehold surface rights to the 23,400
hectare area of its flagship Las Calandrias gold and silver project

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Mariana Resources secures freehold surface rights to Las Calandrias project in Patagonia
The companys broker FinnCap said the freehold purchase is a positive step in the development of the Argentinean project.
Analyst Joe Lunn said: It removes the risk of a third party delaying the project in the future by demanding a high level of compensation in return for relinquishment of these rights. We expect the assay results of the first holes at Las Calandrias shortly.

Mariana hits bonanza grades of gold and silver at Calandria Norte
Friday, October 15, 2010 by Ian Lyall
The company has uncovered bonanza grades of gold at Calandria Norte
Mariana Resources (LON:MARL) said this morning it has struck bonanza grades of gold and silver at its project in Patagonia.
The company says there is potential for high-grade gold mineralization along the 450 metre strike vein-breccia trend at Calandria Norte, part of the Las Calandrias area in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina.
The adjacent drill hole, CND 61, produced a concentration of 34.1 grams per tonne of gold over 5 metres and 32 grams of silver over 199 metres.
Eleven diamond drill holes were completed at Norte for a total of almost 1,400 metres, building on an earlier programme.

The latest holes were drilled over about 200m strike in the central portion of the vein trend, the company said in a stock exchange statement.

All holes intersected gold mineralisation within a broad marcasite stockwork envelope with holes 60, 61 and 64 intersecting high grades.