ECR MINERALS PLC: Exploration Update -- Victoria Goldfields, Australia

TIDMECR 
 
 

ECR MINERALS plc

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

EXPLORATION UPDATE -- VICTORIA GOLDFIELDS, AUSTRALIA

ECR Minerals plc (LON: ECR), the gold exploration and development company focussed on Australia, is pleased to provide the following update on its activities in the Victoria Goldfields, Australia, which are carried out through the Company's wholly owned Australian subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia Pty Ltd ("MGA").

Craig Brown, Chief Executive Officer of ECR Minerals plc, commented:

"ECR's wholly owned Australian subsidiary MGA has built a strategic portfolio of exploration ground in the Victoria Goldfields with granted and application licences totalling some 1,175 square kilometres.

Our newly acquired drill rig, named "Midas", is now in operation at its inaugural drill site the Byron prospect in the HR3 area of the Bailieston Project. This is the first of numerous planned drill locations which will be coordinated from ECR's central exploration facility compound in the Victoria Goldfields.

The extensive drilling we plan to undertake will be funded from ECR's existing cash resources and the Company can confirm that cash resources currently amount to circa GBP2.95 million providing a considerable forward cash runway for operational and corporate activities.

We expect to provide regular drilling updates to the market including results from assay testing of drilling samples."

ECR Minerals Victoria Goldfields Footprint

Please see the following link for a map showing all MGA's current exploration licences and applications in Victoria:

https://www.ecrminerals.com/images/2021/Location_map-1.jpg

Commencement of Drilling - Bailieston Gold Project

The drill rig has been set up on a site adjacent to the Byron shaft in the HR3 area of the Bailieston project. Please see the following links for plans and sections of the planned drilling from the first site:

https://www.ecrminerals.com/images/2021/BH3DD001-006_Plan.jpg

https://www.ecrminerals.com/images/2021/BH3DD001-004_Section-A.jpg

https://www.ecrminerals.com/images/2021/BH3DD005-006_Section-B.jpg

There are two possible drill sections from this first site, labelled A and B. The first planned hole (HR3DDH001) is highlighted in purple. The plans and sections are based on assumptions largely derived from historical data compilations/reports. They are provided for guidance purposes only and no reliance should be placed on them. As work proceeds, the planned drill holes are open to modification as the geology becomes clearer.

HR3DDH001 will aim to follow the continuation of the reef below the depth of the historic workings of the Byron mine. Subject to favourable results from the first hole, several follow-up holes have been designed to test extensions of the reefs. Section B holes have been designed to target the vein at similar depths as Section A, but to the south side of the Byron shaft.

After Byron, drilling will continue at HR3 to test the Maori, Dan Genders, Scoulars and Hard-Up reefs and will aim to provide for the first time a framework of the geological structures hosting the reefs, which will be used to attempt to target coalescing reef intersections.

From HR3, it is currently planned that the rig would be moved to test the Cherry Tree prospect, or for further drilling at the Blue Moon discovery. Cherry Tree and Blue Moon are also within the Bailieston project. The results of 2019 drilling at Blue Moon by MGA included intersections of 15 metres at 3.81 g/t gold and 11 metres at 2.42 g/t gold (announced on 14 March 2019).

A map of the eastern Bailieston project area showing some of the prospects and features referred to in this announcement can be viewed at:

https://www.ecrminerals.com/images/2020/09/09/prospectsreefs-eastern-bailieston-tenement-area.jpg

Creswick Gold Project

MGA is also keen to follow up on previous drilling results at Creswick, where individual samples returned assays as high as 80.97 g/t gold over one metre (announced on 5 November 2019). Drill sites have been determined and approval has been received from the relevant government authorities. . In Q4 2020, MGA completed a soil geochemistry survey of the Jackass Reef prospect at Creswick, the results of which will be of significant value for drill targeting in that area at the appropriate time. Alongside exploration work at Creswick, ECR is continuing discussions in respect of potential corporate transactions including potential joint venture arrangements. There can, however, be no certainty that any transaction or agreement will occur.

Exploration Licence Application Surrounding the Ballarat Gold Mine

MGA's exploration licence application EL007537 is for an area which surrounds mining licences MIN5396 and MIN4847 (which in turn contain the operating Ballarat gold mine). The application area includes the southern extension of the Dimocks Main Shale, which is the principal target of exploration at MGA's Creswick gold project located a short distance to the north, the northern extension of the Ballarat East line and the depth extensions of the Ballarat West line. EL007537 is a competitive bid with three other applicants. Further information on EL007537 will be announced if MGA's application is successful.

Review of Announcement by Qualified Person

This announcement has been reviewed by Dr Rodney Boucher of Linex Pty Ltd. Linex Pty Ltd provides geological services to Mercator Gold Australia Pty Ltd, including the services of Dr Boucher, who has a PhD in geology, is a Member and RPGeo of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists and is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Dr Boucher is a Qualified Person as that term is defined by the AIM Note for Mining, Oil and Gas Companies.

MARKET ABUSE REGULATIONS (EU) No. 596/2014

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 (MAR). Upon the publication of this announcement via Regulatory Information Service (RIS), this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

 
ECR Minerals plc                      Tel: [phone] 
David Tang, Non-Executive Chairman 
Craig Brown, Director & CEO 
Email: 
 [e-mail] 
Website: www.ecrminerals.com 
 
WH Ireland Ltd                        Tel: [phone] 
Nominated Adviser 
Katy Mitchell/James Sinclair-Ford 
 
SI Capital Ltd                        Tel: [phone] 
Broker 
Nick Emerson 
 

ABOUT ECR MINERALS PLC

ECR is a mineral exploration and development company. ECR's wholly owned Australian subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia Pty Ltd has 100% ownership of the Bailieston and Creswick gold projects in central Victoria, Australia.

Following the sale of the Avoca, Moormbool and Timor gold projects in Victoria, Australia to Fosterville South Exploration Ltd (TSX-V: FSX), ECR has the right to receive up to A$2 million in payments subject to future resource estimation or production at those projects.

ECR has earned a 25% interest in the Danglay gold project, an advanced exploration project located in a prolific gold and copper mining district in the north of the Philippines, and holds a royalty on the SLM gold project in La Rioja Province, Argentina.

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January 12, 2021 04:00 ET (09:00 GMT)