Significant increase in gold grades at Creswick

ECR Minerals PLC

07 May 2024

 

ECR MINERALS plc

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

Victoria Projects Update

Significant increase in gold grades from Bulk Sampling at Creswick

ECR Minerals plc (LON: ECR), the exploration and development company focused on gold in Australia, is pleased to provide an update on the bulk sample results for the first four reverse circulation drill holes as well as the final two holes drilled at the Kuboid Hill prospect in Creswick earlier this year.  The Company is also pleased to provide results from stream sampling that was carried out last month at its Bailieston Project.

HIGHLIGHTS

Creswick

●     Reportable bulk sampling results of 3.05g/t Au and 2.53 g/t Au over 1 metre upgraded from 0.76 and 0.37 g/t Au respectively.

●     Techniques employed give potential scope for a marked improvement in grades for the remaining "best hole" bulk samples from pan concentrate.

Bailieston

●     Best results of 798 ppb Au and 712 ppb Au from stream sampling.

●     Sampling was carried out at three areas with no known historical workings and have shown encouraging surface expression of anomalous gold which gives merit to further follow up work.

●     Now re-analysing a number of drill cores from HR3 at Bailieston for the presence of Antimony, which correlates with this latest reconnaissance work showing a presence of Antimony.

●     ECR is funded for its planned activities in Victoria and Queensland in 2024.

Details of the Programmes

Creswick

As announced on 8 April 2024, a total of 1,032 metres of reverse circulation ("RC") drilling was completed at Kuboid Hill on 16 February 2024. This was the second part of an extended reverse circulation drilling programme at Creswick, following on from 522 metres completed at Davey Road where, as previously announced on 12 February 2024, ECR reported a best overall grade gold of 41.03g/t Au. The Kuboid Hill programme was designed to follow up on the Company's anomalous gold soil sampling campaign that was completed in 2022.

ECR has received final results from bulk sampling for the first four of the 17 RC drill holes at Kuboid Hill (being KHRC012, KHRC008, KHRC009 and KHRC015). Only KHRC012 generated any reportable results from the bulk sampling, significant improvement was seen in three of the samples from that hole, as set out below:

 Details of bulk sampling and significant intercepts > 0.5g/t

HOLE	From (m)	To (m)	Interval (m)	Original Au g/t	Bulk Au g/t
KHRC012	27	28	1	0.76	3.05
KHRC012	28	29	1	0.26	0.81
KHRC012	40	41	1	0.37	2.53

The bulk samples from the remaining drillholes are currently in the laboratory. Based on the improved results for hole KHRC012, the ECR Board considers that there is a reasonable expectation of an improvement in grades for some of the remaining bulk samples from other mineralised zones.

Additional Kuboid Hill Drill Holes

The remaining samples for the final two drill holes at Kuboid Hill (see announcement 8 April 2024) have revealed further mineralised zones, consistent with what has been seen previously, although neither reported intercepts above 1 g/t.

Bailieston

At the Company's Bailieston Project, a stream sampling campaign was recently completed throughout the northern part of the tenements (EL006911, EL006912 and EL007296) with the campaign being designed to test for initial evidence of gold mineralisation within the unexplored part of the region.

All three areas have had no historical work and, based on the results obtained, the Company believes there is merit in undertaking additional near-term follow up exploration.

●     Black Cat South

Best results of 798 ppb Au and 712 ppb Au from two streams on the western flank of the Black Cat Fault. The two streams drain a prominent ridgeline that is approximately 400m long in strike and offers further prospectivity. The regional Black Cat Fault is associated with other gold and antimony historical mining activity along strike.

●     King's Cross

Result of 150 ppb Au from a stream that drains an old prospect known as King's Cross. Highly oxidised quartz veins are present in this area and require follow up testing.

●     Freisland Hills

An anomaly of 100ppb Au was obtained from an unnamed creek in the centre of the area.

 

 

In all three prospects, LIDAR mapping shows there has been no previous mining activity or prospecting in the area which provides for an opportunity for development and deeper exploration.

In addition to stream sampling, two small soil orientation surveys were completed on the north fringes of the HR3 goldfield area and the Cherry Tree South goldfield. Both soil surveys show coincidental elevated arsenic and antimony. Previous soil sampling at HR3 has identified arsenic and antimony as pathfinders to gold mineralisation.

ECR is now also re-analysing the core from its earlier drilling at the HR3 prospect at Bailieston for antimony. The Costerfield-Bailieston-Nagambie district is noted for economic veins of antimony and elevated antimony has been observed from previous pXRF analysis of the drill core.

Mike Whitlow Chief Operating Officer said: "Today's news points to further potential value at our Creswick gold assets and we're looking forward to the results from the remaining bulk samples from our "best holes" following on from our 'off the rig' sample results, which include observations of visible gold."

Adam Jones Chief Geologist said: "Results from the Bailieston stream sampling survey are also encouraging and we firmly believe ground exploration above these streams is now merited. The Bailieston field is prospective for not only gold, but also for antimony, and we're fortunate to be located between the two proven fields of Costerfield and Nagambie. Today's results give further validation to our rationale to re-analyse our historical core from HR3 and Cherry Tree."

REVIEW OF ANNOUNCEMENT BY QUALIFIED PERSON

This announcement has been reviewed by Adam Jones, Chief Geologist 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]
Nick Tulloch, Chairman Andrew Scott, Director
Email: [e-mail]
Website: www.ecrminerals.com
WH Ireland Ltd		Tel: [phone]
Nominated Adviser Katy Mitchell / Andrew de Andrade
Axis Capital Markets Limited		Tel: [phone]
Broker
Ben Tadd/Lewis Jones
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

Glossary

Au	Gold
ppb	parts per billion
pXRF	Portable x-ray fluorescence (analyser)

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).

ECR also owns 100% of an Australian subsidiary LUX Exploration Pty Ltd ("LUX") which has three approved exploration permits covering 946 km2 over a relatively unexplored area in Lolworth Range, Queensland, Australia. The Company has also submitted a license application at Kondaparinga which is approximately 120km2 in area and located within the Hodgkinson Gold Province, 80km NW of Mareeba, North Queensland.

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), MGA 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.  MGA also has approximately A$75 million of unutilised tax losses incurred during previous operations.

ECR holds a royalty on the SLM gold project in La Rioja Province, Argentina which could potentially receive up to US$2.7 million in aggregate across all licences.

 

END