Planned Activities at Avoca and Bailieston Gold Projects, Australia
ECR Minerals plc
ECR MINERALS plc
(“ECR Minerals”, “ECR” or the “Company”)
AIM: ECR
US OTC: MTGDY
PLANNED ACTIVITIES AT
AVOCA AND BAILIESTON GOLD PROJECTS,
AUSTRALIA
The directors of ECR Minerals plc (the “Directors”) are pleased to
announce details of immediate plans to advance the Avoca and Bailieston
gold projects in Victoria, Australia. ECR’s wholly owned Australian
subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia Pty Ltd (“MGA”) has agreed to acquire
100% ownership of the projects, as previously announced.
In accordance with ECR’s announcement dated 11 March 2016, the Company
has already arranged sufficient funding for the activities listed below,
which are expected to be completed during May and June 2016.
Avoca project
As MGA’s primary immediate objective is to demonstrate the viability of
reprocessing historical waste dumps at the Avoca project to produce
gold, with the additional possibility of producing saleable gravel and
sand by-products, the following principal activities are planned:
* Completion of a mineral resource estimate for the dumps, which entails
additional sampling;
* Metallurgical testwork on samples from the dumps, with a focus on
gravity recovery options;
* Preparation of an economic study of the proposed reprocessing of the
dumps, setting out the capital requirements and projected returns from
the operation, and the timescale which would be required to reach
production.
Bailieston project
* MGA plans to complete a rotary air blast (RAB) percussion or air-core
drilling programme of up to 1000m (comprising up to approximately 20
individual drill holes) at the Bailieston project during June 2016, to
test targets in the Byron and Black Cat areas.
Significant historical drill and trench intercepts from the Byron area
are tabulated below.
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Hole ID
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From (m)
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To (m)
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Length (m)
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Au (g/t)
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Reef
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Type
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BLP126
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40
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43
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3
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13.80
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Scoulars North
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Drill RC
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BLP136
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44
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46
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2
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17.16
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Maori
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Drill RC
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BLP140
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35
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38
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3
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14.74
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Byron
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Drill RC
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BLP181
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24
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54
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30
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0.75
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Dan Genders
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Drill RC
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TR14
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138
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162
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24
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0.56
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Scoulars South
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Trench
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The information in the table above is historical and therefore
indicative only, in relation to the JORC Code. For more information,
shareholders are encouraged to refer to the competent person’s report
completed for ECR in relation to the Avoca and Bailieston projects which
is available for download from the Company’s website (www.ecrminerals.com).
Information regarding the projects, and the terms on which MGA has
agreed to acquire them, is also available in the Company’s announcements
dated 3 March 2016 and 20 April 2016.
Stephen Clayson, Chief Executive Officer of ECR, commented:
“The programmes outlined above are, in the case of the Avoca project,
intended to generate the data needed to move the project towards
production as rapidly as possible. In the case of Bailieston, it is
hoped that the proposed drilling will confirm the strong exploration
potential indicated by historical data and more recent surface mapping
and sampling. Updates will be provided to the market as progress is
made.”
Review of Announcement by Qualified Person
This announcement has been reviewed by William (Bill) Howell BSc (Hons),
FAusIMM, FSEG, ECR’s Non-Executive Chairman. Mr Howell is a geologist
with 49 years of experience in the minerals industry, and is a Qualified
Person as that term is defined by the AIM Note for Mining, Oil and Gas
Companies.
ABOUT ECR
ECR is a mineral exploration and development company with the right to
earn a 50% interest in the Danglay epithermal gold project in the
Philippines. Danglay is 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 subsidiary Ochre Mining has a 100% interest in the
SLM gold project in La Rioja Province, Argentina. Exploration at SLM has
focused on identifying small tonnage mesothermal gold deposits which may
be suitable for relatively near term production.
ECR’s wholly owned Australian subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia (MGA)
has agreed to acquire 100% ownership of the Avoca and Bailieston gold
projects in Victoria, Australia. Mercator Gold Australia is estimated to
have tax losses of approximately AUD 66M as at 30 June 2015, which may
be available, subject to certain conditions (as described in ECR’s
announcement dated 4 December 2014), to reduce MGA’s future taxable
profits. This is considered particularly significant in view of an
opportunity which may exist at Avoca to establish relatively near term
gold production from the reprocessing of historical mine dumps, with the
potential for sale of gravel and sand by-products. A competent person’s
report in relation to the Avoca and Bailieston projects is available for
download from ECR’s website.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
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ECR Minerals plc
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Tel: +44 (0)20 7929 1010
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William (Bill) Howell, Non-Executive Chairman
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Stephen Clayson, Director & CEO
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Richard (Dick) Watts, Technical Director
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Email: [email protected]
Website: www.ecrminerals.com
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Cairn Financial Advisers LLP
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Tel: +44 (0)20 7148 7900
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Nominated Adviser
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Emma Earl / Jo Turner
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Vicarage Capital Ltd
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Tel: +44 (0)20 3651 2910
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Broker
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Rupert Williams / Jeremy Woodgate
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Blytheweigh
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Tel: +44 (0)20 7138 3204
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Public Relations
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Tim Blythe / Camilla Horsfall
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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.
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