Placing raises £585,000 & Joint Broker Appointed

ECR Minerals PLC

14 March 2024

 

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED WITHIN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS DEEMED BY THE COMPANY TO CONSTITUTE INSIDE INFORMATION AS STIPULATED UNDER THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION (EU) NO. 596/2014 AS IT FORMS PART OF UK DOMESTIC LAW PURSUANT TO THE EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018, AS AMENDED. UPON THE PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT VIA A REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE, THIS INFORMATION IS CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

ECR MINERALS plc

("ECR Minerals" or the "Company")

Placing to raise £585,000

Appointment of Joint Broker

ECR Minerals plc (LON:ECR), the exploration and development company focused on gold in Australia, is pleased to announce that it has successfully raised, subject only to Admission, £585,000 before expenses through the placing of 195,000,000 new ordinary shares ("Placing Shares") at a price of 0.30 pence per Placing Share (the "Placing Price") (the "Placing")

The Placing Price represents a discount of approximately 30 per cent. to the closing middle market price of 0.43 pence per Ordinary Share on 13 March 2024, being the latest practicable business day prior to the publication of this Announcement.

The net proceeds from the Placing will be used to advance ECR's projects in Victoria and Queenland during 2024, specifically:

·    Stream sampling at Baileston, Victoria

·    Reverse Circulation drilling at Tambo, Victoria, where the Company has previously recorded 22g/t rock chips with Silver and Bismuth credits

·    Trenching at Flaggy Creek and Reedy Creek in Lolworth, Queensland - trench across various outcrops followed up with Reverse Circulation drilling

·    Reconnaissance for Niobium REE and Gold in streams over eastern tenements in Lolworth, Queensland where geological mapping suggests the presence of pegmatite intrusion that covers approximately 45km2

Mike Whitlow, Chief Operating Officer said: "This fundraising is a significant achievement for ECR, coming at a more than 70% premium to our raise last September.  We are now fully funded for our 2024 exploration programme.  With our ongoing payments for the rig sale covering our G&A expenses, and our continued policy of settling supplier fees through the issue of shares, where possible, we have a strong balance sheet and believe we are well positioned to take advantage of any future opportunities that may arise."

Appointment of joint broker and Issue of Equity

ECR is also pleased to announce the appointment of Axis Capital Markets Limited ("Axis Capital") as joint broker to the Company with immediate effect.  Axis Capital facilitated the Placing for the Company. The Company has agreed to issue and allot 4,000,000 new ordinary shares in lieu of £12,000 of fees due to Axis Capital as joint broker in order to assist the Company in conserving its cash resources (the "Axis Shares"). These shares have been issued at the placing price of 0.30 pence.

In addition, the Company has also elected (as it is entitled to pursuant to the terms of the agreement) to issue and allot 8,333,333 new ordinary shares in lieu of £25,000 of fees owed by the Company to a third party supplier, also in order to assist the Company in conserving its cash resources (the "Supplier Shares"). These shares have also been issued at the placing price of 0.30 pence.

Admission and Disclosure and Transparency Rules

Application will be made for the Placing Shares, the Axis Shares and the Supplier Shares (a total of 207,333,333 Ordinary Shares) to be admitted to trading on AIM ("Admission") and it is expected that Admission will become effective on or around 8 April 2024. The Placing Shares, Axis Shares and Supplier Shares will rank pari passu with the existing ordinary shares in the Company.

Upon Admission, ECR's issued ordinary share capital will comprise 1,826,420,093 ordinary shares of 0.001p. This number will represent the total voting rights in the Company, and, following admission may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculation by which they can determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

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

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 90% interest in the Danglay gold project in the Philippines and 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