Mariana Resources Ltd :issues employee options, reprices certain options and issues shares on exercise of options

MARIANA RESOURCES  LIMITED

AIM & PLUS MARL

TSX: MRY

17 January 2012

Mariana Resources issues employee options and reprices 60p employee options and
issues shares following exercise of options.

Mariana Resources Ltd ('Mariana' or 'the Company'), the AIM and TSX quoted
exploration and development company in Argentina and Chile, advises that the
Board has changed the exercise price of 1,500,000 options expiring 1 February
2015 exercisable at  60 pence per share, to be exercisable at 12 pence per
share.  The exercise price of the same series of 60p options held by directors
has not been altered.

The Company has issued to employees under the Employee Share Option Plan,
784,000 options exercisable at 12 pence per share, 83,000 at 16 pence per share
and 83,000 at 20 pence per share, all expiring 31 January 2016.

The Company has also issued to directors of the company, 750,000 options
exercisable at 12 pence per share, 750,000 at 16 pence per share and 750,000 at
20 pence per share expiring 31 January 2016, also under the conditions of the
Employee Share Option Plan.

As a result the Company has the following options subject to the Employee Share
Option Plan outstanding.

Employees' options

Expiry date Exercise price Number of options


31/01/2012 24P 21,000

31/01/2012 28P 20,000

31/01/2012 30P 19,000

30/10/2012 15P 10,000

30/10/2012 20P 10,000

30/10/2012 25P 10,000

31/10/2012 6P 235,000

31/08/2012 10P 357,000

31/08/2012 15P 377,000

31/08/2012 20P 372,000

30/06/2013 6P 683,000

31/05/2013 20P 300,000

31/01/2014 20P 1,670,000

31/07/2014 30P 2,540,000

1/02/2015 12P 1,320,000

31/01/2016 12P 784,000

31/01/2016 16P 83,000

31/01/2016 20P 83,000


--------------------
Total employees' options   7,894,000
--------------------




Directors' options

Expiry date Exercise price Number of options


31/05/2012 6P 33,500

30/06/2013 6P 266,000

31/01/2014 20P 1,050,000

31/07/2014 30P 1,500,000

01/2/2015 60P 1,100,000

31/01/2016 12P 750,000

31/01/2016 16P 750,000

31/01/2016 20P 750,000


--------------------
Total directors' options   6,199,500
--------------------


The total number of options held by employees and directors is equivalent to
6.2% of the Company's issued shares.

Members of the Mariana Resources Ltd employee share option plan have exercised
75,000 options over shares in the company.  The shares were issued at a price of
6 pence per share.

The exercise prices were set at the time the options were issued.

Mariana Resources Ltd has made an application for the shares' admission to
trading on AIM and the shares are expected to be admitted to trading on 25
January 2012.  The shares have been approved for trading on TSX.

As a result of the above issue, the capital of the Company is now 228,740,487
ordinary shares.

**ENDS**

NEITHER THE TSX NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN
THE POLICIES OF THE TSX EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR
ACCURACY OF THIS NEWS RELEASE

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

In Australia:

John Horsburgh (Chairman) Mariana Resources Ltd +61 2 94374588

Glen Parsons (CFO) Mariana Resources Ltd +612 94374588

Rob Adamson RFC Corporate Finance Limited +61 2 9250 0041
(Nomad)

Will Souter RFC Corporate Finance Limited +61 2 9250 0050
(Nomad)

In U.K.

Matthew Robinson             FinnCap (Broker) +44 20 7600 1658


Jonathan Evans Fox Davies Capital ( Co UK +44 20 3463 5000
Broker)

Felicity Edwards St Brides Media and Finance Ltd +44 20 7236 1177
(PR)

Elisabeth Cowell St Brides Media and Finance Ltd +44 20 7236 1177
(PR)

In Canada:

Kathryn Witter Mariana Resources Ltd (Vancouver +1 604 669 9336
Office)

Arash Shahi Renmark Financial Communications +1 514 939 3989
(PR)

Maurice Dagenais Renmark Financial Communications +1 416 644 2020
(PR)


Mariana Office Location

Head Office:
Level 5, 22 Atchison Street
St. Leonards, NSW, 2065
Australia

Canadian Address:
 PO Box 11584
 1410 - 650 West Georgia Street
 Vancouver, BC V6B 4N8

About Mariana Resources
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
(100%); 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.

Safe Harbour

This press release presents "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of
Canadian securities legislation that involve inherent risks and uncertainties.
Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with
respect to the future price of gold and other minerals and metals, the
estimation of mineral resources, the capital expenditures, costs and timing of
the resources, the realization of mineral reserve estimates, the capital
expenditures, costs and timing of the development of new deposits, success of
exploration activities, permitting time lines, currency exchange rate
fluctuations, requirements for additional capital, government regulation of
mining operations, environmental risks, unanticipated reclamation expenses,
title disputes or claims and limitations on insurance coverage. Generally, these
forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward looking
terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected",
"budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or
"does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or
state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might"
or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking statements are
subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may
cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of
Mariana to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such
forward looking statements, including but not limited to: risks related to
international operations, actual results of current exploration activities;
actual results of current or future reclamation activities; conclusions of
economic evaluations; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be
refined; future prices of gold and other minerals and metals; possible
variations in ore reserves, grade or recovery rates; failure of equipment or
processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labour disputes and other risks
of the mining industry; and delays in obtaining governmental approvals or
financing or in the completion of development or construction activities.
Although the management of Mariana believes that the expectations reflected in
such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions and have
attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may
be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or
intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be
accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those
anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue
reliance on forward-looking statements. Mariana Resources does not undertake to
update any forward-looking statements that are incorporated by reference herein,
except in accordance with applicable securities laws.











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Source: Mariana Resources Ltd via Thomson Reuters ONE

[HUG#1578043]


Unternehmen: Mariana Resources Ltd - ISIN: GB00B12GJ720