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ECR MINERALS PLC

Earnings Release Sep 25, 2023

7614_rns_2023-09-25_9e2a021e-c44d-404e-8389-23629fdbb7bc.html

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National Storage Mechanism | Additional information

Extended Gold Prospectivity and Niobium Bullseye Discovery at the Lolworth Project

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ECR MINERALS plc

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

Extended Gold Prospectivity and Niobium Bullseye Discovery at the Lolworth Project

ECR Minerals plc (LON: ECR), the exploration and development company focused on gold in Australia, is pleased to announce the latest exploration developments for the Lolworth Project, North Queensland, Australia.

The Lolworth Project is located approximately 120km west of the historic gold mining centre of Charters Towers, North Queensland, Australia. The project consists of three exploration tenements (EPM27901, EPM27902 and EPM27903) and are operated under the 100% owned LUX Exploration Pty Ltd. The Company has identified numerous Gold, Niobium and REE anomalous within the project.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • 81 follow-up pan concentrate stream samples results have been returned. Best results include 128 ppm Au, 23.7 ppm Au, 42.3 ppm Au and 60.9 ppm Au. These results have further extended the gold prospectivity of the Reedy Creek area to the west.
  • Results (pXRF) from a tighter spaced soil sampling campaign in the Oaky Creek area have identified an interesting Niobium target.
  • Field work, including rock chipping, mapping and tighter spaced pan concentrate stream sampling at both Woolshed Creek and Gorge Creek prospects continue to reveal visible gold, indicating potential for increased prospectivity across the project area.

ECR Managing Director Nick Tulloch commented: “In the midst of significant structural changes at ECR and our ongoing work to evaluate the Company’s asset base, Adam Jones and the field team are to be commended for their tireless work in bringing these exciting developments at our Lolworth Range project to life.”

ECR Chief Operations Officer Mike Whitlow added: “Echoing Nick’s words, our team have been particularly pleased with the latest results as this gives confirmation to our exploration thesis at Lolworth, 128 ppm Gold being our best result has been supported by a number of additional very high-grade samples taken within the surrounding area. Whilst we recognise the early stage nature of this work, the confidence in today's announcement leaves us naturally inspired to continue our efforts at Lolworth towards the end of the year, at which point we will have the perfect opportunity to plan our accelerated future work programme. We are understandably very excited by this latest development.”

Figure One: Oaky Creek Niobium soil anomaly:

https://www.ecrminerals.com/images/2023/Fig1_Niobium-230924.png

Figure Two: Reedy Creek gold result:

https://www.ecrminerals.com/images/2023/Fig2_Reedy-Ck-230924.png

Figure Three: Woolshed Creek gold anomalism:

https://www.ecrminerals.com/images/2023/Fig3_Woolshed-Ck-230924.png

Figure Four: Visible gold extent from sampling in Upper Gorge Creek:

https://www.ecrminerals.com/images/2023/Fig4_Gorge-Ck-West.png

NIOBIUM SOIL SAMPLING RESULTS (Oaky Creek)

Since commencing work at Oaky Creek, ECR has logged a series of highly anomalous Niobium (Nb) and Tantalum (Ta) stream sampling results from the upper reaches of the creek.

The Company reported up to 146 ppm Nb in the first pass soil sampling grid on the 19th July 2023 (see July 19 2023 RNS here). Whilst still early stage, the high priority zones identified from the first pass grid and tested in-house using a pXRF have been followed up, and 17 samples reporting greater than 80 ppm Nb have been identified, with a best result of 497 ppm Nb. It is important to note the results from pXRF data are qualitative not quantitative and should only be used for identifying the pathfinder anomaly.

These new results combined with the first pass soil sampling show strongly elevated levels of Nb within the centre of the sampled area. Previous high-grade Nb and Ta results from sampling the drainage systems that originate from this elevated centre support the new soil sampling results within the anomalous area and bullseye identified (shown in Figure One above).

The field team and the Board have agreed that the next logical next step will be to undertake a traverse ‘ridge and spur’ rock chip sampling program over the anomalous area. This work is expected to be completed before the 2023 field season ends.

PAN CONCENTRATE SAMPLING PROGRAMME UPDATE

Results from a further 81 samples have been received from the ongoing pan concentrate stream sampling program from streams tested in the northern part of the tenement area. Although these results returned no gold, a small group of samples were taken from streams located approximately 2km to the west of the Reedy Creek area which returned high concentrations of gold with results up to 128 ppm Au. Visible coarse gold particles were often seen during the sampling process and for the majority, correlate well with the best laboratory gold results. More significantly, these results extend the gold footprint further west from Reedy Creek, and a follow-up soil sample grid programme has been scheduled for completion in the near future (see Reedy Creek map images in Figure Two above). All gold results greater than 0.1 ppm Au have been tabled in Appendix One to this announcement.

The majority of these stream results have been taken from outside of the Niobium-Tantalum and REE prospective area. Results have returned 14 stream samples reporting greater than 80 ppm Nb with one best result of 2380 ppm Nb. This best result also correlates to other REE elements including Lanthanum (La), Neodymium (Nd), Praseodymium (Pr), Ta and Yttrium (Y). The best Nb results have been identified within isolated creeks in the eastern part of the project area and are encouraging signs for the regional prospectivity for critical minerals and REE in other unexplored areas of the tenement area. All received Nb results greater than 80 ppm are tabulated in Appendix One to this announcement.

RECENT FIELD WORK

ECR Technical Director Adam Jones visited the Lolworth Project in September. He and his field team collected some 180 rock chips from prospective outcrops at Woolshed Creek area and the upper reaches of Gorge Creek and were greatly encouraged by the general prospectivity of the region. The lab results for this work are due in October 2023.

Within the upper reaches of the Gorge Creek catchment area, the creek system divides into western and eastern tributaries. While undertaking sampling work in the western tributary, the field team noted visible gold up to the dividing range spur and acquired a number of small gold nuggets up to 11 grams in weight. A targeted soil sampling program is now underway across the spur to identify the source of this gold (see Figure Four above).

The Company has also undertaken detailed outcrop mapping and rock chip sampling within the Woolshed Creek area which is located north west of Reedy Creek (see Figure Three above). A series of parallel creeks showing gold values backed up by visible gold were identified previously, and a rock chip located in a narrow-mineralised vein returned 4.73 g/t Au. The field team returned to this vein during the September 2023 work programme to map out and rock chip sample other similar small veins running in parallel. Results from this work are expected in October 2023. Although it is unlikely that all veins will be gold-bearing, the Board and field team are of the opinion that the trend of previous stream results in the area along the strike of outcrop provides sufficient evidence to mark out the zone as an area of high prospectivity. A follow-up soil sampling grid over this strike area is planned shortly.

NEXT STEPS

The exploration season in North Queensland typically ends by December 2023 with the onset of the tropical wet season and with flooding preventing access. Before this, our exploration work plan is shown below with the objective being to gather sufficient data to be analysed whilst the team are off-site during the wet season to identify the broader exploration potential of the region.

  1. Soil sampling programme across the creeks at the head of Gorge Creek West.
  2. Ridge and spur sampling across the best Niobium soil anomalies at the Oaky Creek prospect.
  3. Soil Sampling over the Woolshed Creek headwaters.

REVIEW OF ANNOUNCEMENT BY QUALIFIED PERSON

This announcement has been reviewed by Adam Jones, Technical Director of Exploration 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: +44 (0) 20 7929 1010
David Tang, Non-Executive Chairman

Nick Tulloch, Managing Director

Andrew Scott, Director
Email:

[email protected]
Website: www.ecrminerals.com
WH Ireland Ltd Tel: +44 (0) 207 220 1666
Nominated Adviser

Katy Mitchell / Andrew de Andrade
SI Capital Ltd Tel: +44 (0) 1483 413500
Broker
Nick Emerson
Novum Securities Limited Tel: +44 (0) 20 7399 9425
Broker

Jon Belliss
Brand Communications Tel: +44 (0) 7976 431608
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 also has an option to acquire 100% of Placer Gold, which wholly owns the Hurricane Project, a later stage gold and antimony project located west of Cairns in the Hodgkinson Province, NE 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), Mercator Gold Australia Pty Limited 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.

ECR holds a 90% interest in the Danglay gold project; an advanced exploration project located in a prolific gold and copper mining district in the north of the Philippines, which has a 43-101 compliant resource. ECR also holds a royalty on the SLM gold project in La Rioja Province, Argentina and can potentially receive up to US$2.7 million in aggregate across all licences.

APPENDIX ONE

Table One. Gold results greater than 0.1 ppm from the recent pan concentrate stream sampling. (1 ppm = 1 g/t Au)

SAMPLEID PROSPECT Easting Northing Au ppm VG
LWSS766 Reedy Creek 309536 7751113 0.37 y
LWSS780 Reedy Creek 308395 7751332 60.9 y
LWSS783 Reedy Creek 308155 7751007 128 y
LWSS803 Reedy Creek 307906 7750851 42.3 y
LWSS806 Reedy Creek 308530 7751218 23.7 y
LWSS807 Reedy Creek 308060 7750779 0.17 n

Note: Locations given in GDA94 Zone 55 grid format.

VG = visible gold seen in sampling process (yes/no)

Table Two. Niobium results greater than 80 ppm from the recent pan concentrate stream sampling. Selected REE results also included.

SAMPLEID Easting Northing Nb ppm La ppm Nd ppm Pr ppm Ta ppm Y ppm
LWSS673 314320 7766812 2380 5250 4490 1220 940 1830
LWSS663 310866 7763211 723 144 127.5 35.4 188 148
LWSS686 307205 7759657 704 2520 2040 560 171.5 2440
LWSS672 314589 7767180 527 1975 1640 449 146.5 2040
LWSS657 305441 7760325 521 1260 1045 283 80.4 1785
LWSS653 306939 7760374 471 1595 1285 355 57.2 2210
LWSS652 306743 7760606 428 2210 1765 491 75.7 3120
LWSS690 306193 7758821 395 1675 1460 390 62.3 2160
LWSS655 306161 7760554 350 1375 1140 311 47.7 2150
LWSS654 306559 7760121 349 2030 1615 451 60.2 3010
LWSS651 307483 7760937 333 703 666 176.5 53.2 487
LWSS689 306000 7758856 157 1295 1065 288 39.2 1585
LWSS780 308395 7751332 118 1175 916 254 19.4 349
LWSS806 308530 7751218 80 859 676 185.5 13.2 286

Note: Locations given in GDA94 Zone 55 grid format.

Table Three. Niobium pXRF results greater than 80 ppm with selected REE’s from the second pass soil grid within the Oaky Creek area.

SAMPLEID PROSPECT Easting Northing Nb ppm La ppm Nd ppm Pr ppm Y ppm
LWL2102 Oaky Creek 313232 7757193 479 76 bdl bdl 13
LWL2039 Oaky Creek 313202 7756898 173 bdl bdl 104 12
LWL2100 Oaky Creek 313282 7757193 135 bdl bdl bdl 31
LWL1585 Oaky Creek 311328 7756267 121 61 bdl bdl 27
LWL2077 Oaky Creek 313217 7757097 120 bdl bdl bdl 19
LWL2081 Oaky Creek 313317 7757096 102 bdl bdl bdl 7
LWL2425 Oaky Creek 313737 7757952 94 bdl bdl bdl 16
LWL2020 Oaky Creek 313480 7756812 90 bdl bdl bdl 21
LWL1641 Oaky Creek 311935 7756740 86 78 bdl 109 26
LWL2078 Oaky Creek 313242 7757097 86 bdl bdl bdl 12
LWL1989 Oaky Creek 313392 7756464 85 54 bdl 98 19
LWL1956 Oaky Creek 313375 7756272 84 bdl bdl bdl 37
LWL2082 Oaky Creek 313342 7757096 84 51 bdl 107 9
LWL1716 Oaky Creek 311728 7756935 83 bdl bdl bdl 25
LWL1986 Oaky Creek 313317 7756465 81 bdl bdl bdl 18
LWL2055 Oaky Creek 313417 7756996 81 63 bdl bdl 30
LWL2099 Oaky Creek 313307 7757193 81 bdl bdl bdl 30

Note: Locations given in GDA94 Zone 55 grid format.

Bdl = below detection limit of pXRF

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230925368397/en/

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