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

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.

Friday's Stock Market Report from UK-Analyst

Mariana Resources (MARL) shares advanced by 3.75p to 46p after the gold miner revealed three new high gold intersections from follow up drilling at the Calandria Norte target in Argentina. Commenting on this, the group said; "They highlight the potential for high grade vein-breccias at Las Calandrias and Calandria Norte in particular, in addition to the bulk tonnage style gold mineralization at Calandria Sur."

26/10/10
Patagonian gold and silver rush under way and growing

http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page33?oid=113594&sn=Detail&pid=102055

..
Most recently too, Mariana Resources has shown that the rhyolite domes associated with the vein mineralisation may well have the potential for large scale lower grade disseminated gold and silver, which could well prompt a new burst of exploration activity as other companies start drilling these structures as a result of Mariana's find. (Mariana's gold/silver exploration in Patagonia - best of both worlds)
...
Only a couple of years ago it was probably relatively easy to pick up exploration concessions on the Deseado Massif areas, but that is certainly not the case now. The biggest land holdings in the region are probably those of the Santa Cruz state mining entity, Formicruz, followed by Canadian company Mirasol, then Minera IRL and other big exploration holdings controlled by Extorre, Hochschild, Mariana Resources, AngloGold, Pan American Silver, Andean, Coeur, Argentex etc.
...
Most of these have some exploration activity under way on already identified vein systems, but the problem with these systems is that they require a huge amount of drilling to prove them out and it is difficult to prioritise these drill programmes. Sufficient to say that in the months and years ahead more and more high grade gold and silver occurrences will be found across the region - and indeed some are already beginning to be announced like Mariana's excellent grades at Calandria Norte.
..
But, talking of Mariana, this company has also found a low grade disseminated, potential very high tonnage deposit by drilling into one of the rhyolite domes which are a major feature across the Deseado Massif and with which the high grade vein systems appear to be associated. The Calandrai Sur project, in the same concession as the high grade Calandria Norte vein system, comprises multiple zones of breccias hosted gold mineralisation on one of the rhyolitic dome structures. Mariana has a number of other similar targets on its ground. Core lengths of 100 m all in this disseminated low grade material have been announced. Mariana is AIM-listed, but is in the process of securing a TSX listing which should include its marketability.
...
Like the explorers, this article only scratches the surface of some of the ongoing work in what has now to be considered one of the world's most prospective precious metals provinces. The proving up of some of the vein systems does require a huge amount of drilling, but the rewards can be great with some of the high grade structures likely to host some of the lowest cost gold and silver mines in the world as new mines are brought to production. And now, the recent rhyolite dome discovery by Mariana and Minera IRL, with its promise of high tonnage, relatively low grade gold silver mineralisation (in reality reasonable grades when both the gold and silver content is taken into account and in comparison with some of the big low grade mines being developed elsewhere) suggests that more precious mining majors and mid-sized companies may be attracted to the area as the potential becomes even more apparent

Mariana Commences Drilling at La Borita Copper Prospect,
Catamarca Province, NW Argentina

Key points

Two 600-700 m deep drill holes testing strong chargeability anomaly below exotic copper travertine mineralisation at surface with coincident magnetic low
Target is a concealed porphyry copper deposit
Mining-friendly Catamarca Province (Alumbrera copper mine)
Four year option to acquire 100% interest for total US $900,000, including a 2% NSR

Mariana Resources Ltd (Mariana) is pleased to announce that deep drilling has commenced at La Borita located in the northern part of Catamarca province, approximately 60km SW of Antofagasta de la Sierra, northwest Argentina.

The drill contactor is Eco Minera SA using a Sandvik DE710 diamond
drill rig. Two 600-700m core holes located 400m apart and inclined at 70 degrees will test a porphyry copper target at depth.

La Borita Copper Prospect

The prospect is located in a prominent topographic basin which coincides with a NE trending 7 x 3.2km airborne magnetic low. Copper-bearing travertines (carbonate rock deposited at surface from a hot spring) occupy a 1.0 x 1.5 km area within the topographic low. The copper-bearing travertines may have resulted from leaching of copper mineralisation at depth and subsequent precipitation at the surface via hot spring conduits.

further details and maps can be viewed on Mariana Resorces web pages

2/11/10
05:23 Mariana Resources Ltd (MARL) Drill moves to Calandria Norte

FinnCap said that combined with the La Borita drilling programme, todays news makes it think that the shares are currently good value, reiterating its valuation of 48 pence.
Shares in Mariana last traded at 37.75 pence.
The broker called La Borita a high risk, high reward exploration play and asserted that Calandria Norte was no longer priced into the companys valuation.
The markets seemingly hot and cold attitude to Calandria Norte is perhaps understandable as bonanza gold intersections need to be accompanied by continuity of mineralisation.
But its still early days for this project, and we see considerable upside for the shares from these levels if the second drilling campaign demonstrates the much-needed continuity, said finnCap.
The broker also noted that it was keeping its valuation of Mariana unchanged for now, calling the first batch of assay results that will be released later this month the "critical measurement of success".

Surprised they ended down today.

Mariana identifies new gold-silver target trend
StockMarketWire.com
Mariana Resources said a new 600m target trend had been identified parallel to the La Calandria vein in Santa Cruz province, southern Argentina.

Float samples assayed up to 116 g/t Au and 65 g/t Ag.

The company said infill and exploration drilling at the Calandria Sur bulk tonnage target had been completed ahead of schedule. Its intention was to delineate a maiden resource in Q1 2011.

The drill rig had returned to Calandria Norte to follow up high-grade vein targets. A second rig was scheduled to arrive in mid-November to fast-track exploration drilling at the Las Calandrias gold-silver project.



Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Mariana Resources Ltd (MARL.LN), an exploration and development company based in Argentina and Chile, said Thursday that geophysical exploration results strongly support numerous high priority drill targets identified in untested rhyolite domes at Las Calandrias.

MAIN FACTS:

-The current drilling program at Las Calandrias to extend by 5,000 meters to 15,000 meters - second drill rig arriving on site by mid-November to fast- track exploration

-New 2D Induced Polarization or IP chargeability drill target at Calandria Norte dome parallel to Las Calandrias bonanza vein and 300 meters to the north with rock chips up to 116 g/t Au and 65g/t Ag

-3D IP modelling of the 2km x 2.8km Nido Norte IP block outlines at least six main chargeability and several resistivity anomalies at El Nido Norte, Nido Oeste and Nido Centro

-3D resistivity indicates a major untested 2km x 1km dome complex extending up to 300 million depth, centered on the Nido Norte target, 1.8km NW of the Calandria Sur gold-silver deposit

-A 2,000 meter x 350 meter 3D resistivity anomaly coincides with a 1.5km epithermal vein structure

-New 3D IP target areas outlined at Pichones, Gamekeeper and Loica prospects adjacent to the Nido Norte target

-Nido Sur IP block 3D survey completed and modelling results expected shortly

-By Razak Musah Baba, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9275; razak.baba@dowjones.com

Broker.....

The results show multiple areas of potential mineralisation, Lunn said.
While bonanza gold drill results from high grade shoots and veins often capture the headlines, we think that the low grade bulk tonnage style of mineralisation present at Calandria Sur can be just as rewarding from an economic perspective.
Mariana has established very early in the exploration strategy for Las Calandrias the importance of geophysical information to optimise drill targets.
We think that the prospectivity of the untested goldfields at Las Calandrias has been significantly enhanced this morning.
Lunn values Mariana at 48 pence per share.

http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/22719/finncap-upbeat-on-mariana-resources-after-tantalising-exploration-results-22719.html