GRANT OF OPTIONS

GRANT OF OPTIONS

ECR Minerals plc

ECR MINERALS plc

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

AIM: ECR

US OTC: MTGDY

GRANT OF OPTIONS

LONDON: 12 AUGUST 2013

ECR Minerals plc announces the grant of 130 million share options (the “Options”) to directors, staff and consultants. The Options have been granted under the Company’s unapproved share option plan (the “Option Plan”).

Each Option is exercisable to acquire one ordinary share of the Company at a price of 0.2p per share. The Options will remain valid, subject to the rules of the Option Plan, until the fifth anniversary of the date of grant. The Options will vest immediately.

The exercise price of the Options equates to a premium of approximately 40% to the closing mid-market price of the Company’s shares on AIM on 9 August 2013.

Options have been granted to directors of the Company as follows:

Stephen Clayson		55,045,872 Options
Paul Johnson		27,522,936 Options
Richard Watts		19,816,514 Options

Paul Johnson, Non-Executive Chairman of ECR, commented:

“The award of these Options is intended to reflect the hard work to date on the part of the board and other members of the ECR team, as well as the success of the Company’s restructuring and renaissance. Even more importantly, the Options provide an added incentive to maintain the same level of commitment and determination to drive the business forward for the benefit of shareholders.”

ABOUT ECR MINERALS PLC

ECR is a mineral development company with, among other interests, the right to earn a 50% interest in the Itogon gold-silver project in the Philippines. The Itogon project is an advanced exploration project located in a gold and copper mining district on the island of Luzon in the north of the Philippines, and benefits from an extensive historical dataset.

The Company also has 100% ownership of the Sierra de las Minas gold project in La Rioja Province, Argentina; and a substantial minority stake in THEMAC Resources Group Ltd (TSX-V: MAC), which is focused on the development of the Copper Flat copper-molybdenum-gold-silver porphyry project in New Mexico, USA.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

ECR Minerals plc		Tel: [phone]
Paul Johnson, Non-Executive Chairman
Stephen Clayson, Director & Chief Executive Officer
Email: [e-mail]
Website: www.ecrminerals.com
Daniel Stewart & Company plc		Tel: [phone]
David Hart/Antony Legge

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This announcement may include forward looking statements. Such statements may be subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and therefore actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.

Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward looking statements. Any forward looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date hereof (unless stated otherwise) and, except as may be required by applicable laws or regulations (including the AIM Rules for Companies), the Company disclaims any obligation to update or modify such forward looking statements as a result of new information, future events or for any other reason.