ECR MINERALS PLC: Multiple visible gold occurrences and pegmatites observed at Lolworth, Queensland

TIDMECR 
 
 

ECR MINERALS plc

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

Multiple visible gold occurrences and pegmatites observed at Lolworth, Queensland

ECR Minerals plc (LON: ECR), the exploration and development company focused on gold in Australia, is pleased to announce the first round of results from the recent stream sediment sampling campaign undertaken at the Lolworth Range project, North Queensland, Australia.

ECR Minerals plc has 100% ownership of three exploration tenements (EPM27901, EPM27902 and EPM27903), which covers the Lolworth Range, located 120km west of the famous gold district of Charters Towers. The project is being explored by ECR's Australian wholly owned subsidiary Lux Exploration Pty Ltd ("LUX").

HIGHLIGHTS

   -- 21 out of 125 stream sediment samples to date are anomalous with gold, 
      with results up to 152.5 ppm Au. 
 
   -- 18 of the 125 samples show visible gold. 
 
   -- Further samples are awaiting results including 212 stream sediment 
      samples and 33 rock chips. 
 
   -- Multiple pegmatites observed throughout the tenements 
 

ECR CEO Andrew Haythorpe commented: "Following today's placing to raise gross proceeds of GBP900,000 to further develop our projects, on behalf of the Board I am delighted to report a great start at our Lolworth project, with a highly encouraging 14% visible gold strike rate from the sampling campaign. As we await the results from the remaining samples, we have also incorporated samples from pegmatites observed by our Technical Director on his most recent trip to Lolworth into our plan. These have also been submitted for assay and will be reported at the earliest opportunity. From this we will then move to establish an initial shortlist of targets for further exploration."

"I look forward to reporting back to you as soon as we receive the results from the remaining samples"

A Probability Plot showing the different gold population groupings can be found at the following link:

Figure 1: https://www.ecrminerals.com/images/2022/fig1_Lolworth_SS_Au_populations.png

An overview plan showing results (Au ppm) of stream samples completed to date can be found at the following link:

Figure 2: https://www.ecrminerals.com/images/2022/fig2_Lolworth_SS_1st_Results_091222.png

PROJECT OVERVIEW

The Lolworth Range project is located approximately 120km west of the historically famous Charters Towers gold district. ECR Minerals owns three Exploration tenements covering a total area of 964 km(2) . The area encompasses the Lolworth Range, a region comprising of similar rocks that host world class gold deposits such as Charters Towers and the historic Mt Leyshon Mine (>2.5 million ounces).

In 1987-1988, a stream sediment survey was undertaken by previous explorers ARI Ltd under permit ATP4855M. Their investigations identified numerous anomalous streams within Lolworth Range containing not only visible gold, but also minerals such as tin and tungsten. Research by ECR Minerals geologists established that no follow-up exploration of any note had been undertaken since the work under the ATP4855M permit, mostly likely due to the relatively inhospitable terrain. It is for this reason that ECR Minerals pegged this ground in 2021.

FIRST RESULTS FROM THE STREAM SAMPLING PROGRAM

ECR Minerals has received the results from 125 pan concentrate stream sediment samples which are representative of the first batch of samples submitted to the laboratory in late September 2022. A further 212 samples have been submitted recently with results expected in due course.

Visible gold has been observed in the concentrates of 18 out of the 125 samples (14.4% of the total), which is a better outcome than the results from previous exploration by ARI Ltd. in 1987-88.

All gold results to date have been arranged in increasing order of grade (Au ppm) and analysed by a cumulative probability plot (Figure 1). Results show the presence of five (5) considered gold populations, characterised by the following;

Group 1: Extreme values with a grade range between 5.5 and 152.5 ppm Au.

Group 2: Highly anomalous values with a grade range between 2.1 and 5.5 ppm Au.

Group 3: Mid anomalous values with a grade range between 0.6 and 2.1 ppm Au

Group 4: Low anomalous values with grades ranging between 0.13 and 0.6 ppm Au

Group 5: Considered background values of the surrounding region representing no anomaly with a grade range between 0.00 and 0.13 ppm Au. These represent approximately 83% of all sampling reported.

The ECR board considers samples that fall into groups 1, 2 and 3 to be anomalous in gold. Samples falling within group 4 are a low priority, however some follow-up sampling will be needed as a double check.

The anomalous areas of groups 1, 2 and 3 are notated on the plan map in (Figure 2).

In practice, sampling in the field has shown that not all negative laboratory results correlated with observed visible gold in the panning process. An example is that 8 out of the 89 samples falling into group 5 (background value) were notable for visible gold. This will be taken in consideration for follow up sampling campaigns.

TABLE 1: Gold population groups showing total samples with observed visible gold (VG):

 
Population groups   Number of samples  Samples with reported VG 
Group 1             5                  3 
Group 2             12                 3 
Group 3             4                  3 
Group 4             15                 1 
Group 5             89                 8 
TOTAL               125                18 
 

TABLE 2: All gold results considered anomalous from Groups 1, 2 and 3:

 
SAMPLE    Easting (GDA94-Z55)  Northing (GDA94-Z55)  Au ppm  Visible Gold? 
LWSS001   313692               7754116               5.88    y 
LWSS012   314429               7756692               1.42    y 
LWSS090   298814               7761280               2.30    y 
LWSS092   299499               7761370               0.93    n 
LWSS093   298823               7760665               2.17    n 
LWSS094   299023               7760941               2.38    y 
LWSS096   299042               7758162               2.26    y 
LWSS149   314050               7749308               21.90   y 
LWSS151   313877               7749836               0.85    y 
LWSS155   315871               7750430               5.88    n 
LWSS160   314212               7751253               1.93    y 
LWSS161   314025               7751352               152.50  y 
LWSS207   316998               7753627               2.67    n 
LWSS211   313613               7751298               7.69    n 
LWSS263   315668               7749611               4.43    n 
 
   -- (Visible gold recorded in field sampling: y=Yes n=No) 
 

NEXT STEPS

These first results from Lolworth Range lead the Board to believe that the area is highly prospective for gold, increasing both our knowledge of the region and confidence in the overall project potential. The sampling campaign has built considerably on the limited past exploration by ARI Ltd in 1987-88. ECR Technical Director Adam Jones visited the project in early November 2022, and in his field inspection he noted multiple pegmatites throughout the tenements. Previous exploration work had noted Tungsten (W) and Tin (Sn) mineralisation within parts of the region and armed with this knowledge, further analysis is being conducted on all samples to identify potential pathfinders for critical minerals.

There are another 212 stream sediment samples currently being analysed in the laboratory. In addition, 33 rock chips taken from observed mineralised veining at the 'Uncle Terry' historical prospect are also being analysed.

REVIEW OF ANNOUNCEMENT BY QUALIFIED PERSON

This announcement has been reviewed by Adam Jones, Technical Director of Exploration at ECR Minerals plc. Adam Jones is a professional geologist and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (MAIG). He is a qualified person as that term is defined by the AIM Note for Mining, Oil and Gas Companies.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

 
ECR Minerals plc                      Tel: [phone] 
David Tang, Non-Executive Chairman 
 Andrew Haythorpe, CEO 
 
Email: 
 [e-mail] 
Website: www.ecrminerals.com 
 
WH Ireland Ltd                        Tel: [phone] 
Nominated Adviser 
 Katy Mitchell / Andrew de Andrade 
 
SI Capital Ltd                        Tel: [phone] 
Broker 
Nick Emerson 
 
Novum Securities Limited              Tel: [phone] 
Broker 
 Jon Belliss 
 
Brand Communications                  Tel: [phone] 
Public & Investor Relations 
Alan Green 
 
 

ABOUT ECR MINERALS PLC

ECR Minerals is a mineral exploration and development company. ECR's wholly owned Australian subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia Pty Ltd ("MGA") has 100% ownership of the Bailieston and Creswick gold projects in central Victoria, Australia, has six licence applications outstanding which includes one licence application lodged in eastern Victoria. (Tambo gold project). MGA is currently drilling at the Bailieston Blue Moon Project (EL5433) and undertaking geochemical exploration on the Creswick (EL6148) project and has an experienced exploration team with significant local knowledge in the Victoria Goldfields and wider region.

ECR also owns 100% of an Australian subsidiary LUX Exploration Pty Ltd ("LUX") which has three approved exploration permits covering 946 km(2) over a relatively unexplored area in Queensland, Australia.

Following the sale of the Avoca, Moormbool and Timor gold projects in Victoria, Australia to Fosterville South Exploration Ltd (TSX-V: FSX) and the subsequent spin-out of the Avoca and Timor projects to Leviathan Gold Ltd (TSX-V: LVX), Mercator Gold Australia Pty Limited has the right to receive up to A$2 million in payments subject to future resource estimation or production from projects sold to Fosterville South Exploration Limited.

ECR holds a 70% 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, which has a 43-101 compliant resource. ECR also holds a royalty on the SLM gold project in La Rioja Province, Argentina and can potentially receive up to US$2.7 million in aggregate across all licences

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December 12, 2022 07:45 ET (12:45 GMT)