Issue of Equity

Issue of Equity

ECR Minerals plc

ECR MINERALS plc

(“ECR Minerals”, “ECR” or the “Company”)

AIM: ECR

US OTC: MTGDY

FUNDRAISING

London: 20 January 2012 - ECR Minerals plc is pleased to announce the placing (the "Placing") of 55 million new ordinary shares of 0.1p (“Ordinary Shares”) at a price of 1p per Ordinary Share to raise GBP550,000 before costs.

The net proceeds of the Placing will be applied primarily for work programmes at the Company’s Sierra de las Minas gold project area in La Rioja Province, Argentina, including drilling at the El Abra prospect, and for general corporate purposes. Drilling at El Abra is scheduled to commence during February.

Optiva Securities Ltd and Daniel Stewart & Company plc acted for the Company in the Placing, which is conditional upon admission of the new Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM.

Pursuant to this announcement application will be made for a total of 55 million Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM. Dealings are expected to commence on 26 January 2012. Following admission of these shares the Company will have a total of 694,806,081 Ordinary Shares in issue. The new Ordinary Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the Ordinary Shares of the Company currently traded on AIM.

Patrick Harford, Managing Director of ECR Minerals plc, comments:

“We believe it is prudent to have further strengthened ECR’s financial position as we enter a very exciting phase of the Company’s development.

The funds raised will enable us to maintain the pace of activities at our Sierra de las Minas project area in Argentina, where we are working to establish the feasibility of near term gold production from one or more of the prospects at which high grade mineralisation has been identified to date.

Accordingly, we expect to be in a position to announce the results of initial metallurgical testwork on samples from Sierra de las Minas in the near future.”

About ECR Minerals

ECR is a mineral development company with interests in the USA, Argentina, Indonesia, Thailand and Australia.

For further information please contact:

ECR Minerals plc			Tel: [phone]
Michael Silver, Chairman
Patrick Harford, Managing Director
Stephen Clayson, Director & Chief Financial Officer
Luca Tenuta, Non-Executive Director
Email: [e-mail]
Website: www.ecrminerals.com
Daniel Stewart & Company plc			Tel: [phone]
Paul Shackleton/Tessa Smith/David Hart
Old Park Lane Capital plc			Tel: [phone]
Michael Parnes
Optiva Securities			Tel: [phone]
Christian Dennis/Jeremy King
Blythe Weigh Communications			Tel: [phone]
Ana Ribeiro
Barry Kaplan Associates			Tel: [phone]
Larry Kaplan