Mariana Resources Ltd

AIM and PLUS code: MARL                                                 

2 August 2010

Mariana Signs 10,000m Drilling Contract for Las Calandrias Gold-Silver Project, Santa Cruz, Argentina

Mariana Resources Ltd ('Mariana' or 'the Company'), the AIM quoted exploration and development company focussed on Argentina and Chile, is pleased to update on progress at its wholly owned Las Calandrias gold-silver project ('Las Calandrias'), located in the prospective Deseado Massif gold district in southern Argentina.

A drilling contract has been signed with Eco Minera SA ('Eco Minera'), an established Argentinean drilling company, for a minimum 10,000m drilling programme at Las Calandrias.  The drilling programme is expected to commence during the first week of September 2010 and will take approximately four months to complete.  The first of two SANDVIK DE710 diamond drill rigs will be mobilised onsite at the end of August 2010 with a second drill rig to follow at the end of September 2010. 

The drilling programme, which Mariana's management team believes will result in a maiden resource estimate at Las Calandrias' Calandria Sur target, has the following objectives:

Calandria Sur - delineation drilling of a breccia-hosted gold-silver resource with bulk tonnage potential indicated.  Best drill intersections to date include - 68m @ 2.4 g/t Au and 24 g/t Ag from 74m (Hole CSD25) and 106m @ 1.6 g/t Au and 27 g/t Ag from 3m (Hole CSD39).

Calandria Norte - priority drilling below and along strike from previous exceptional drill intersections of bonanza-grade vein-breccia-hosted gold/silver mineralisation of 4.0m @ 76 g/t Au and 70 g/t Ag from 92.5m (Hole CND45) and 4.5m @ 102 g/t Au and 72 g/t Ag from 81.5m (Hole CND46) and drilling of the entire 450m-long target trend.

El Nido Dome Field - exploration drilling of the 1.5km-long target trend at El Nido Norte prospect and new targets identified from Induced Polarisation (IP), magnetics, geochemistry and geological mapping.

Meanwhile, intensive exploration of the highly prospective Las Calandrias rhyolite dome field is well underway with ground magnetics, lag/trench sampling and 2D/3D IP surveying.  In addition, the preliminary metallurgical testwork for the Calandria Sur target has commenced.  Progress updates will be released in due course.

Mariana Managing Director John Sutcliffe said, "The signing of the 10,000m drill contract for Las Calandrias signals the next exciting stage of our programme which will fast-track the Calandria Sur bulk tonnage target towards a maiden resource by end Q4 2010.  In tandem with this, we will carry out further exploration drilling at Calandria Norte which we believe could become the stand-out discovery at Las Calandrias, with previous drill intersections of bonanza-grade vein-breccia-hosted gold/silver mineralisation.  Additionally, intensive exploration of the El Nido Dome field is well underway and we expect to generate additional drill targets which could further expand the project's economic potential."

Las Calandrias Project

Las Calandrias, which is 100% owned by Mariana, comprises multiple zones of gold mineralisation hosted by a series of rhyolite domes which occur over a 10.5 km² area.  In 2009, an initial drilling programme of 16 shallow holes totalling 1,763m was designed to test two of the initial dome targets, Calandria Norte vein breccia and Calandria Sur dome breccia targets. Significant gold mineralisation was intersected at Calandria Sur (see news release 28/10/2009). The 2010 diamond drill programme consisted of 4,400m in 37 holes and tested four main targets: Calandria Sur (28 holes/3,212m); Calandria Norte (2 holes/299m), together with the recently discovered targets, El Nido Este (2 holes/309m) and El Nido Norte (5 holes/580m).

For further information please visit website at www.marianaresources.com or contact the following.

About Mariana Resources

Mariana Resources Ltd is an AIM quoted exploration and development company with an extensive portfolio of gold, silver and copper projects in Argentina and Chile.   In Argentina, in addition to the Las Calandrias gold-silver discovery, the Company owns the Sierra Blanca silver prospect and has a joint venture with Hochschild Mining. Mariana also owns exclusive exploration rights to a 160,000 Ha area acquired following detailed interpretation of satellite imagery. All of these projects are located in the Deseado Massif gold district in mining-friendly Santa Cruz province of southern Argentina, which hosts four gold/silver mines and several notable bonanza type precious metal prospects..

In Chile, Mariana has a joint venture agreement 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 km� area ('SCM Mariana Area') in north-central Chile.  The SCM Mariana Area includes two Iron Oxide Copper Gold ('IOCG') exploration projects in the highly prospective Atacama Fault Zone, approximately 100 km from Freeport's Candelaria Copper Mine: the 44km� Buenaventura and 46km� Perro Chico projects.

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