Successful Reconaissance Drilling at Black Cat Gold Prospect Victoria, Australia

Successful Reconaissance Drilling at Black Cat Gold Prospect Victoria, Australia

ECR Minerals plc

ECR MINERALS plc

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

SUCCESSFUL RECONAISSANCE DRILLING AT BLACK CAT GOLD PROSPECT

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA

ECR Minerals plc (LON:ECR), the precious metals exploration and development company, is pleased to announce the findings of the reconnaissance rotary air blast (RAB) drilling programme recently completed at the Black Cat gold prospect, which is located within the Bailieston gold project area (EL5433) in the state of Victoria, Australia.

ECR’s wholly owned Australian subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia Pty Ltd (“MGA”) has 100% ownership of the Bailieston project.

Readers are advised to review ECR’s announcement dated 4 February 2019 regarding the initiation of the Black Cat drilling programme, which can be viewed at the following link:

https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/ecr_minerals/news/rns/story/w1mok9w

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Reconnaissance RAB drilling programme targeted numerous quartz reefs at Black Cat with a total of 18 shallow holes for 485 metres of drilling;
• Significant intersections are reported in Table 1 below and include 7 metres at 1.76 g/t gold from 35 metres in BCD11, 3 metres at 4.26 g/t gold from 16 metres in BCD18, and 1 metre at 6.3 g/t gold from 18 metres in BCD03;
• The potential for supergene enriched mineralisation at the water table interface and for deeper primary mineralisation could be investigated by drilling deeper holes;
• The Black Cat prospect is located immediately south of ground recently applied for by Newmont Mining, and is among the high priority targets identified by the geophysical interpretation and targeting study completed for MGA in late 2017;
• Important geological insights have been generated by the drilling programme, which will guide further exploration at Black Cat and other prospects in the Bailieston gold project area.

Craig Brown, Chief Executive Officer of ECR Minerals plc, commented: “This was a valuable reconnaissance programme at a gold prospect which had never been drilled before, located immediately south of ground recently applied for by a subsidiary of Newmont Mining.

The drilling targeted numerous quartz reefs with 18 holes drilled in total. Most of the locations had some historical gold mining activity, and all of them had positive previous rock chip sampling results.

I am delighted with the positive outcomes from this programme. As well as some encouraging grades, the drilling has provided important geological information which may help vector further exploration in the project area towards achievement of ECR’s prime strategic objective, which is the discovery of a multi-million ounce gold deposit.”

Further Information

Rotary air blast (RAB) drilling is a low-cost method well suited to the first pass, reconnaissance testing required at the Black Cat gold prospect. Eighteen holes were drilled, to a maximum depth of 47 metres downhole, for a total of 485 metres.

Full details of all drill holes are reported in the tables below. A map showing the location of the drill holes may be downloaded at the following link:

https://www.ecrminerals.com/black-cat

Composite samples representing 3 or 4 metre downhole lengths were initially compiled from the drill cuttings and sent to be fire assayed for gold. After receipt of the assay results, composites which returned anomalous gold grades were re-sampled on a metre by metre basis. This second set of samples was sent for fire assay, and the intersections reported in this announcement are based on those assay results. All assays were carried out at On Site Laboratory Services in Bendigo, Victoria.

Each of the three main quartz reefs that were worked historically at Black Cat is around 350m long. Drill holes were located along each of these reefs, especially near the most significant workings.

Discussion of Results

The main Black Cat reef comprises a series of en-echelon quartz lenses within a shear zone, as is found at various other reefs within the Redcastle goldfield, and for this reason the drilling completed did not always intersect the quartz veined sections. Apart from the quartz veined material that was mined historically, there exist siliceous pyritic sandstones and heavily fractured limonitic siltstones that can also be auriferous.

Hole BCD11 was drilled at the southern end of the main reef and the intersection of 7 metres at 1.76 g/t gold is associated with a diorite dyke and a zone of significant quartz veining at the footwall of the dyke in the host sandstone.

Narrow high-grade zones were intersected in BCD03 (1 metre at 6.3 g/t gold from 18 metres) and BCD18 (3 metres at 4.26 g/t gold from 19 metres) on two separate reefs, the main reef and the north reef, both of which appear to be shoot types of mineralisation because of the discontinuity along strike which has been established by other drill holes. In the case of both BCD03 and BCD18, no quartz veining was observed in the drill cuttings where gold was found to occur. The gold-mineralised intersections here are associated with limonitic siltstone.

The drilling indicates that there is typically a supergene enriched zone near surface that reaches a vertical depth of around 10 metres. There remains potential for additional supergene enrichment near the water table (approximately 50 metres), and for higher gold grades in deeper primary mineralisation. The three most significant intersections are all on different reefs and each could be investigated further by deeper drilling.

Further exploration could also focus on larger nearby structures that may be the source of the gold mineralisation, such as the Moormbool and Black Cat faults.

Table 1

Significant Intersections from Q1 2019 RAB Drilling at the Black Cat Gold Prospect

EL5433, Victoria, Australia

NB: intersections reported are apparent width with a cut-off grade of 0.3 g/t gold

Hole ID		From (m)		To (m)		Interval (m)		Grade g/t gold		Reef
BCD01		16		18		2		0.58		North extension
BCD03		18		19		1		6.3		North
BCD08		0		3		3		0.68		Main
BCD11		35		42		7		1.76		Dyke
BCD15		8		9		1		1.08		Main
BCD18		16		19		3		4.26		Main

COMPETENT PERSON STATEMENT

This announcement has been reviewed by Neil Motton BAppSc (Hons), MAusIMM (CP), FSEG, a geological consultant to the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia Pty Ltd with more than 30 years of professional experience. Mr Motton 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 Avoca, Bailieston, Creswick, Moormbool and Timor gold exploration projects in central Victoria, Australia and the Windidda gold project in the Yilgarn region, Western Australia.

ECR has earned a 25% interest in the Danglay epithermal gold project, 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 Argentine subsidiary Ochre Mining has 100% ownership of the SLM gold project in La Rioja, Argentina. Exploration at SLM has focused on identifying small tonnage mesothermal gold deposits which may be suitable for relatively near-term production.

Table 2

Hole Details (MGA94) - Q1 2019 RAB Drilling at the Black Cat Gold Prospect

EL5433, Victoria, Australia

Hole ID		Easting		Northing		Depth		Azimuth		Dip		Location
BCD01		307822		5931871		34		220		-60		NW trench
BCD02		307803		5931848		31		37		-60		NW trench
BCD03		307871		5931678		33		226		-60		North reef
BCD04		307860		5931690		30		225		-60		North reef
BCD05		307958		5931126		20		2		-60		Dyke
BCD06		307813		5931772		24		45		-60		North reef ext.
BCD07		307820		5931780		13		45		-60		North reef ext.
BCD08		307901		5931272		16		25		-60		Main reef
BCD09		307898		5931262		26		20		-60		Main reef
BCD10		307890		5931314		26		225		-60		Main reef
BCD11		307961		5931133		47		10		-60		Dyke
BCD12		307940		5931016		30		215		-60		South reef east end
BCD13		308005		5931113		42		13		-60		Dyke
BCD14		307936		5931145		36		10		-60		Dyke
BCD15		307865		5931340		9		220		-60		Main reef
BCD16		307867		5931343		13		220		-60		Main reef
BCD17		307879		5931330		28		226		-60		Main reef
BCD18		307895		5931302		27		225		-60		Main reef
				Total		485

Table 3

Complete Results of Q1 2019 RAB Drilling at the Black Cat Gold Prospect

EL5433, Victoria, Australia

NB: intersections reported are apparent width with a cut-off grade of 0.3 g/t gold

Hole ID		From (m)		To (m)		Interval (m)		Grade g/t gold		Reef
BCD01		16		18		2		0.58		North extension
BCD02		No significant intersections
BCD03		18		19		1		6.3		North
BCD04		No significant intersections
BCD05		No significant intersections
BCD06		No significant intersections
BCD07		No significant intersections
BCD08		0		3		3		0.68		Main
BCD09		No significant intersections
BCD10		No significant intersections
BCD11		35		42		7		1.76		Dyke
BCD12		No significant intersections
BCD13		No significant intersections
BCD14		No significant intersections
BCD15		8		9		1		1.08		Main
BCD16		No significant intersections
BCD17		No significant intersections
BCD18		16		19		3		4.26		Main

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190425005638/en/