ECR Minerals plc Planned Activities at Avoca and Bailieston Gold Projects, Australia

 
TIDMECR 
 
 

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

AIM: ECRUS OTC: MTGDY

PLANNED ACTIVITIES ATAVOCA AND BAILIESTON GOLD PROJECTS, AUSTRALIA

The directors of ECR Minerals plc (the "Directors") are pleased to announce details of immediate plans to advance the Avoca and Bailieston gold projects in Victoria, Australia. ECR's wholly owned Australian subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia Pty Ltd ("MGA") has agreed to acquire 100% ownership of the projects, as previously announced.

In accordance with ECR's announcement dated 11 March 2016, the Company has already arranged sufficient funding for the activities listed below, which are expected to be completed during May and June 2016.

Avoca project

As MGA's primary immediate objective is to demonstrate the viability of reprocessing historical waste dumps at the Avoca project to produce gold, with the additional possibility of producing saleable gravel and sand by-products, the following principal activities are planned:

* Completion of a mineral resource estimate for the dumps, which entails additional sampling;

* Metallurgical testwork on samples from the dumps, with a focus on gravity recovery options;

* Preparation of an economic study of the proposed reprocessing of the dumps, setting out the capital requirements and projected returns from the operation, and the timescale which would be required to reach production.

Bailieston project

* MGA plans to complete a rotary air blast (RAB) percussion or air-core drilling programme of up to 1000m (comprising up to approximately 20 individual drill holes) at the Bailieston project during June 2016, to test targets in the Byron and Black Cat areas.

Significant historical drill and trench intercepts from the Byron area are tabulated below.

 
Hole ID   From (m)  To (m)  Length (m)  Au (g/t)  Reef            Type 
BLP126    40        43      3           13.80     Scoulars North  Drill RC 
BLP136    44        46      2           17.16     Maori           Drill RC 
BLP140    35        38      3           14.74     Byron           Drill RC 
BLP181    24        54      30          0.75      Dan Genders     Drill RC 
TR14      138       162     24          0.56      Scoulars South  Trench 
 
 

The information in the table above is historical and therefore indicative only, in relation to the JORC Code. For more information, shareholders are encouraged to refer to the competent person's report completed for ECR in relation to the Avoca and Bailieston projects which is available for download from the Company's website (www.ecrminerals.com). Information regarding the projects, and the terms on which MGA has agreed to acquire them, is also available in the Company's announcements dated 3 March 2016 and 20 April 2016.

Stephen Clayson, Chief Executive Officer of ECR, commented:

"The programmes outlined above are, in the case of the Avoca project, intended to generate the data needed to move the project towards production as rapidly as possible. In the case of Bailieston, it is hoped that the proposed drilling will confirm the strong exploration potential indicated by historical data and more recent surface mapping and sampling. Updates will be provided to the market as progress is made."

Review of Announcement by Qualified Person

This announcement has been reviewed by William (Bill) Howell BSc (Hons), FAusIMM, FSEG, ECR's Non-Executive Chairman. Mr Howell is a geologist with 49 years of experience in the minerals industry, and is a Qualified Person as that term is defined by the AIM Note for Mining, Oil and Gas Companies.

ABOUT ECR

ECR is a mineral exploration and development company with the right to earn a 50% interest in the Danglay epithermal gold project in the Philippines. Danglay is an advanced exploration project located in a prolific gold and copper mining district in the north of the Philippines. An NI43-101 technical report was completed in respect of the Danglay project in December 2015, and is available for download from ECR's website.

ECR's wholly owned subsidiary Ochre Mining has a 100% interest in the SLM gold project in La Rioja Province, Argentina. Exploration at SLM has focused on identifying small tonnage mesothermal gold deposits which may be suitable for relatively near term production.

ECR's wholly owned Australian subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia (MGA) has agreed to acquire 100% ownership of the Avoca and Bailieston gold projects in Victoria, Australia. Mercator Gold Australia is estimated to have tax losses of approximately AUD 66M as at 30 June 2015, which may be available, subject to certain conditions (as described in ECR's announcement dated 4 December 2014), to reduce MGA's future taxable profits. This is considered particularly significant in view of an opportunity which may exist at Avoca to establish relatively near term gold production from the reprocessing of historical mine dumps, with the potential for sale of gravel and sand by-products. A competent person's report in relation to the Avoca and Bailieston projects is available for download from ECR's website.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

 
ECR Minerals plc                                Tel: [phone] 
William (Bill) Howell, 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 
Vicarage Capital Ltd                            Tel: [phone] 
Broker 
Rupert Williams / Jeremy Woodgate 
Blytheweigh                                     Tel: [phone] 
Public Relations 
Tim Blythe / Camilla Horsfall 
 
 

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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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 27, 2016 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)