ECR Minerals plc UPDATE ON EXPLORATION

 
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ECR MINERALS plc

("ECR Minerals", "ECR" or the "Company")

AIM: ECR

US OTC: MTGDY

UPDATE ON EXPLORATION

LONDON: 1 MAY 2015 - ECR Minerals plc is pleased to provide the following update on activities at the Itogon gold project in the Philippines and the SLM gold project in Argentina.

ITOGON GOLD PROJECT, PHILIPPINES

Further to the Company's news release dated 17 April 2015, the diamond drilling programme which commenced at Itogon in January 2015 has now been completed. As previously stated, the results of the drilling will be announced when assay results for all six holes in the programme have been received and processed. This is expected to be during May 2015.

A programme of trenching has been designed for the main prospect area at Itogon and is planned to commence during May 2015. The trenches are planned to be up to 5m deep and are intended to expose certain of the larger mapped quartz vein structures and other interpreted mineralised zones, including supergene zones, in the main prospect area. Each trench will be mapped and sampled in order to obtain additional information regarding the geology and gold grades in the zones exposed.

If successful, the trenching is expected to enable a near surface inferred resource to be estimated for the main prospect area, on the basis of the results of drilling completed to date in combination with the results of the trenching. Estimation of resources in the measured and indicated categories, which represent higher levels of confidence, would require additional drilling. Trenching may be carried out in two phases so as to allow the effectiveness of the technique to be evaluated, with the second phase and any resource estimation being subject to this evaluation.

Also planned to commence during May 2015 is a detailed topographical survey of the main prospect area at Itogon using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The resulting data is expected to be used in resource estimation.

SLM GOLD PROJECT, ARGENTINA

Further to the Company's announcements dated 27 February 2015 and 17 April 2015, field observations at the Maestro Agüero and JV prospects by the geologist overseeing the bulk sampling programme at Maestro Agüero in March 2015 are considered sufficiently encouraging by the directors of ECR to justify moving ahead with a programme of further geological mapping at the JV prospect. This is planned to commence during May 2015.

Exploration to date by ECR's Argentine subsidiary Ochre Mining SA, along with historical data reported by previous explorers, indicates that JV is the largest of the three key prospects within the SLM project area in terms of the extent of mesothermal veins. The planned mapping programme is intended to identify priority vein zones for bulk sampling.

The JV prospect is located approximately six kilometres south of the Maestro Agüero prospect, and, as at Maestro Agüero, bulk sampling would be employed to obtain a large sample size. Given the presence of nuggety gold and coarse flecks of secondary gold, a large sample size is necessary to ensure statistically representative results.

Stephen Clayson, Chief Executive Officer of ECR, commented:

"Ahead of drilling results from the Itogon project and bulk sampling results from the Maestro Agüero prospect at SLM, both of which are expected during May 2015, the directors of ECR consider there to be sufficient potential indicated by the data collected to date and field observations to justify pressing ahead with additional work programmes to enhance our understanding of both projects.

The estimation of an inferred resource at Itogon, subject to our planned trenching programme being successful, is expected to be a valuable first quantification of the project's potential.

At SLM, we hope to reach a decision during the course of 2015 as to whether small scale gold production is likely to be viable. Current exploration has been planned with that goal in mind."

This announcement has been reviewed by Richard Watts B.Eng. Mining, Fellow of the South African Institute of Mining & Metallurgy, a director of the Company with more than 40 years of experience in the mining industry.

ABOUT ECR

ECR is a mineral exploration and development company with, among other interests, the right to earn a 50% interest in the Itogon gold project in the Philippines. Itogon is an advanced exploration project located in a gold and copper mining district in the north of the Philippines.

ECR has a 100% interest in the SLM gold project in La Rioja Province, Argentina, the exploration strategy for which is to delineate multiple medium to high grade, low tonnage deposits suitable for advancement to production on a relatively low capital, near term basis.

ECR continues to review potential new investments on a highly selective basis, with a concentration on precious, base and strategic metals projects in Asia and South America.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

 
ECR Minerals plc                           Tel: [phone] 
Paul Johnson, Non-Executive Chairman 
Stephen Clayson, Director & CEO 
Richard (Dick) Watts, Technical Director 
Email: [e-mail] 
Website: www.ecrminerals.com 
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP               Tel: [phone] 
Nominated Adviser 
Emma Earl/Jo Turner 
Daniel Stewart & Company plc               Tel: [phone] 
Broker 
Martin Lampshire 
 
 

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This announcement may include forward looking statements. Such statements may be subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and therefore 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. Any forward looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date hereof (unless stated otherwise) and, except as may be required by applicable laws or regulations (including the AIM Rules for Companies), the Company disclaims any obligation to update or modify such forward looking statements as a result of new information, future events or for any other reason.

 
 
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