MARIANA RES : Drilling Report

MARIANA RESOURCES LIMITED
Registered in Guernsey No. 44276

AIM & PLUS: MARL

27 January 2009

PRELIMINARY DRILLING AT LOS AMIGOS JOINT VENTURE, SANTA CRUZ, ARGENTINA.

Preliminary Drilling

Hochschild Mining Holdings ('Hochschild'), operator of the Los Amigos Joint
Venture has advised Mariana Resources Ltd (Mariana) that three Reverse
Circulation holes have been drilled for a total of 900 metres at the project
located in the western sector of the Deseado Massif in the Santa Cruz Province
of southern Argentina.  (News Release 17/11/2009)

Hochschild has informed Mariana that as a drilling rig was available in the
area, they took the opportunity to do the preliminary drilling, of which Mariana
has now been notified.

The holes were drilled to test various vein targets for epithermal gold-silver
mineralisation.  For a map showing holes locations go to Mariana's
websitewww.marianaresources.com <http://www.marianaresources.com/>  Hole details
are as follows:

Hole ID        EastingNorthingAzimuthInclination  Depth
LFRC009-009   2403095       4716004       065deg        50deg      300m
LFRC009-010   2403255       4716072       065deg        50deg      300m
LFRC009-011   2403412       4716151       065deg        50deg      300m

All three holes intersected wide alteration zones and contain intervals between
1 and 10 m wide with quartz veinlets.

Assay results are expected towards the end of February 2010.

Los Amigos Joint Venture

The project comprises Mariana's Amigos I and Amigos II  and Hochschild's San
Augustin tenements located 110km south of Hochschild's gold-silver San Jose
Mine.

The partners have agreed to spend US$2 million on exploration within a three
year period, to be paid 40% by Mariana and 60% by Hochschild, to confirm
participating interests of 49% and 51% respectively. A budget of US$500,000 is
committed in the first year.

Hochschild can earn a further 9% by funding 60% of the next US$3 million in the
following two years and a further 10% by either completing a Feasibility Study
or, if requested by Mariana, providing project financing, repaid out of 80% of
Mariana's share of cash flow. This could see Hochschild's interest increase to a
total 70%.

Hochschild previously held the San Augustin property in a joint venture with
IAMGOLD Corporation ('IAMGOLD'). Under the terms of the Hochschild-Mariana joint
venture agreement, IAMGOLD will retain a 1.5% of net smelter returns royalty on
any future production from the joint venture area.

Exploration History

Previous exploration is limited. Five holes were drilled in the area in 2005 by
Minera Andes Inc. for a total of 1,440m which followed surface sampling and
Induced Polarisation geophysics. The drilling did not intersect economic
gold-silver mineralisation, but abundant hydrothermal breccias with a banded
chalcedonic quartz-pyrite matrix were reported.

Exploration Potential

The area contains well developed NW and NNW structures hosting vein breccias.
Rock chip samples taken by Mariana returned anomalous precious metal values.
Silicified lacustrine sediments indicate a palaeo-surface and an intact
epithermal system. Exploration potential therefore exists for precious metal
mineralisation of low sulphidation epithermal type at depth.

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Contacts:
Mariana Resources Limited

John Horsburgh (Chairman)
[phone]
John Sutcliffe (MD)
[phone]


FinnCap (Broker)

Matthew Robinson
[phone]
Joe Lunn (Analyst)
[phone]

RFC Corporate Finance Limited (Nomad)

Rob Adamson
[phone]
Will Souter
[phone]

St Brides Media and Finance Ltd

Felicity Edwards
[phone]
Hugo De Salis
[phone]


Exploration information in this announcement has been compiled by John Sutcliffe
who is a Fellow of the Geological Society of London, a Chartered Engineer and a
Member of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Sutcliffe has sufficient
experience relevant to the style of mineralisation and types of gold deposit
under consideration and to the activity that he is undertaking to qualify as a
Competent Person as defined in the JORC Code.



[HUG#1377488]