ECR Minerals (LON: ECR) on Wednesday announced the approval of work programmes for three of its Australian exploration permits “in record time”.
The exploration permit (“EPM”) licences are in its Lolworth District licence territories, located in North Queensland. While the company is still awaiting approval for the licences, the next stage of the process can begin.
First, the EMPs will be advertised. After that comes a four-month consultation period. ECR’s directors expect the licences should be granted in around six months’ time and further announcements will follow then.
Chief executive Craig Brown commented that the firm had “received work programme approval back in record time to complete the EPM application process.”
Once the licences are approved, all three will be valid for a five-year initial period, with the right to apply for extension of up to fifteen years. The initial five years will allow the firm to complete its planned exploration programme.
The company noted that its licences will be held in the name of its 100%-owned Australian subsidiary, LUX Exploration.
The EPMs - EPM 27901, 27902 and 27903 – cover a 900 km2 area of “highly prospective ground” in the Lolworth Range. This area is 200km from Townsville and 30km north of Pentlands.
ECR noted that the area “contains metamorphic rocks of the Charters Towers Province”, hosting former large-scale gold producing centres like 6.6-million-ounce Charters Tower and 3.5-million-ounce Ravenswood.
However, do note that the firm has not independently validated these numbers so they are for guidance only.
Still, the area’s basement and structural geology are not well understood, suggesting the possibility of finding new deposits.
On top of which, the area also has reported rhyolitic volcanics, which host gold deposits in the region, including the more than 2.5-million-ounce Mount Leyshon and over 1-million-ounce Mount Wright.
In fact, Brown said historical data in the area found “regional deposits, including Charters Towers have produced over 24m Oz in total gold production over the years”.
Not only that but the company’s desktop study of historic exploration data, gathered in the late 1980s, discovered that the areas returned “anomalous gold stream sediment sample results”.
The area on the southern boundary of the application area contains the “rich alluvial gold deposits of the Cape River and Gorge Creek area”, draining the southern Lolworth Range.
The east boundary of EPMs 27902 and 27903 is bordered by exploration permits that explore the Lolworth dyke swarm. This is a system, trending north-west and containing not only gold but also copper and molybdenum.
Additionally, historic sample data found tin-tungsten mineralisation in EPM 27902’s western areas, with no detailed follow-up work.
Brown said ECR’s “strong cash position” has made it possible to continue with “aggressive drilling programmes”. It already operates two diamond drill rigs at its Victoria projects Bailieston and Creswick.
Meanwhile, he added, the company’s team at Bendigo are still assessing core and drill data. Thanks to leadership from geologist Adam Jones, the firm now has “the capacity to aggressively pursue and develop this new opportunity”.
“I am confident that our ongoing drilling operations across multiple high-profile gold targets will expose ECR to potential new gold discoveries, and I look forward to updating shareholders again in the near term,” Brown concluded.
Author: Anna Farley
The Author does not hold any position in the stock(s) and/or financial instrument(s) mentioned in the piece.
MiningMaven Ltd, the owner of MiningMaven.com, does not own a position in the stock(s) and/or financial instrument(s) mentioned in the piece.
MiningMaven Ltd, the owner of MiningMaven.com, has not been paid for the production of this piece by the company or companies mentioned above.
MiningMaven.com and MiningMaven Ltd are not responsible for the article's content or accuracy and do not share the views of the author. News and research are not recommendations to deal, and investments may fall in value so that you could lose some or all of your investment. Past performance is not an indicator of future performance
ECR Minerals (LON: ECR) said drilling is now underway at two of its Australian projects, an excellent step forward for the company in the lucrative Victoria Goldfields.
The Victoria Goldfields, where the two projects are located, also hosts Kirkland Lake Gold’s (NYSE: KL | TSE: KL | ASX: KLA) world-famous Fosterville mine.
Both gold projects, Bailieston and Creswick, are wholly owned by ECR through Australian subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia.
At Bailieston, successful drilling is ongoing and the firm is looking forward to presenting assay results from recent holes, especially after an initial geological review of the drill core.
So far, hole BH3DD005 has targeted Bailieston’s Maori Reef, while holes BH3DD006 and BH3DD007 “targeted a hypothesised central anticline”, with initial geological interpretation suggesting the anticline is present and “represents a favourable target for hosting gold mineralisation”.
Another hole, BH3DD006, was drilled in order to test the Dan Genders Reef.
Moreover, soil sampling from Bailieston’s HR3 area “has identified very high gold grades in soils”, chief executive Craig Brown noted, lending yet more support to ECR’s drill targeting and geological modelling.
Laboratory results from analysing 229 soil samples from the central and eastern part of HR3 include values as high at 3.75 parts per million. Results right now are being plotted and analysed for comparison to the results of portable X-ray fluorescence analysis.
These results will aid ECR in identifying potential vein extensions, as well as possible undiscovered veins running parallel to Bailieston’s known reef systems.
Meanwhile, at Creswick, previous exploration drilling targeted gold mineralisation associated with quartz veins within the Dimocks Main Shale – a hard-rock alluvial and deep lead gold source.
Individual samples from prior drilling of around 300 metres of the Dimocks Main Shal “returned assays as high as 80.97 g/t gold over one metre”.
Now, MGA has contracted for at least 1,200 metres of diamond drilling at Creswick, with the first of around ten holes already underway.
Compared to the previous drilling, drill sites for this latest programme are located approximately 2.2 kilometres south along the Dimocks Main Shale-trend.
Brown said the firm was “pleased” that drilling was now underway at two Victoria projects, and that ECR looked forward to announcing the latest assay results in due course.
Brown added that the company’s “strong cash position” is what allowed it “to expand drilling operations” and start drilling at Creswick through external contractors.
“We are very excited by the potential scale of the opportunity at Creswick and a larger scale drill programme at the project is something we have been eager to undertake,” Brown said.
Author: Anna Farley
The Author does not hold any position in the stock(s) and/or financial instrument(s) mentioned in the piece.
MiningMaven Ltd, the owner of MiningMaven.com, does not own a position in the stock(s) and/or financial instrument(s) mentioned in the piece.
MiningMaven Ltd, the owner of MiningMaven.com, has not been paid for the production of this piece by the company or companies mentioned above.
MiningMaven.com and MiningMaven Ltd are not responsible for the article's content or accuracy and do not share the views of the author. News and research are not recommendations to deal, and investments may fall in value so that you could lose some or all of your investment. Past performance is not an indicator of future performance
ECR Minerals (LON: ECR) announced a placing on Thursday that is set to boost drilling and exploration at its gold projects in Victoria, Australia.
Funds from the £2.0 million raise will be used for the company’s two wholly-owned projects in Victoria, Bailieston and Creswick.
The placing has a price per share of 2.2p, with investors receiving one warrant for every two placing shares. These warrants allow the holder to subscribe for shares at 3.75p for a 24-month period. If all warrants are exercised, ECR will receive around £1.7 million in proceeds.
Right now, ECR’s own diamond drill rig is continuing in the HR3 area of Bailieston, having drilled five holes so far. A sixth hole is currently being drilled, with the firm planning to report assay results from initial results later in April.
Already, visible gold has been noted in the first hole drilled at HR3’s Byron prospect, as reported in February.
Bailieston is targeting gold mineralisation of the Melbourne Zone, the same zone where Kirkland Lake Gold’s (NYSE: KL | TSE: KL | ASX: KLA) “world-class” Fosterville mine is located.
According to ECR, Bailieston is “at the epicentre of the current gold exploration boom in Victoria”, since it is close to Fosterville and has seen the recent arrival of Newmont Exploration to the district. Newmont has applied for ground immediately to the north of ECR’s Black Cat high-priority prospect.
Bailieston is around 150 kilometres north of Melbourne, Victoria’s state capital, and has “good road access”. Previous reverse circulation drilling at Bailieston’s Blue Moon prospect in 2019 intersected 2 metres at 17.87 grams per ton (g/t) of gold from 57 metres down hole and 3 metres at 3.88 g/t gold from 170 metres down hole.
Creswick, ECR’s other 100%-owned Victoria project, “is considered highly prospective for gold mineralisation”. Reverse circulation drilling there in 2019 completes 17 holes, total. Results from nine of these holes ranged from 0.6g/t gold to 44.63 g/t gold.
As well as funding efforts at the two prospects, the £2.0 million will also be put towards working capital purposes.
Chief executive Craig Brown said net proceeds of the placing will boost the firm’s cash position to more than £5.8 million.
Brown added that, as well as “funding a modest expansion of our operational capabilities at our Bendigo HQ in Central Victoria” the money raised will also let ECR drive hard towards establishing a maiden JORC compliant Bailieston gold resource alongside further drilling at Creswick.
Not only that, but the funds will also give the firm enough “financial flexibility” to evaluate possible “new opportunities” that may arise.
“We are now fully funded for these programmes and don’t envisage requiring additional equity financing for quite some time,” Brown concluded.
Author: Anna Farley
The Author does not hold any position in the stock(s) and/or financial instrument(s) mentioned in the piece.
MiningMaven Ltd, the owner of MiningMaven.com, does not own a position in the stock(s) and/or financial instrument(s) mentioned in the piece.
MiningMaven Ltd, the owner of MiningMaven.com, has not been paid for the production of this piece by the company or companies mentioned above.
MiningMaven.com and MiningMaven Ltd are not responsible for the article's content or accuracy and do not share the views of the author. News and research are not recommendations to deal, and investments may fall in value so that you could lose some or all of your investment. Past performance is not an indicator of future performance
