Update on Creswick Gold Project, Victoria, Aust...

Update on Creswick Gold Project, Victoria, Australia

ECR Minerals plc

 

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

UPDATE ON CRESWICK GOLD PROJECT, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA

ECR Minerals plc (LON: ECR), the precious metals exploration and development company, is pleased to announce the results of further analysis of samples from reverse circulation (RC) drilling completed earlier this year at the Creswick gold project in Victoria, Australia.

The Creswick project is 100% held by ECR’s wholly owned Australian subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia Pty Ltd (“MGA”).

HIGHLIGHTS

• Final results have been received from 129 ‘full bag’ tests and assay of 74 duplicate sub-samples collected when drilling. The highest grade duplicate result of 80.97 g/t gold came from a 1 metre interval that originally assayed 44.63 g/t (announced on 8 May 2019). The ‘full bag’ test of the remainder of the material gave a result close to the average of the two sub-samples at 63.03 g/t (announced 27 August 2019).
• Grade variability due to the nugget effect has been demonstrated, but some consistency between results has been seen, and indicates the effect may be less severe than initially thought.
• The data generated has been provided to Dr Simon Dominy, a noted expert on nuggety gold systems, for geostatistical analysis to quantify the nugget effect and evaluate the representativeness of the larger samples. The findings of this work will guide ECR’s next steps at Creswick.
• On the basis of work undertaken to date ECR considers Creswick a highly important strategic project as part of MGA’s Victoria goldfields portfolio of five projects.

Craig Brown, Chief Executive Officer of ECR Minerals plc, commented:

“These results confirm the presence of nuggety gold mineralisation in the Dimocks Main Shale (DMS) at Creswick, some of which is very high grade.

MGA’s tenement position at Creswick covers approximately 7 kilometres of the DMS trend, and our drilling earlier this year only tested approximately 300 metres of this.

We therefore believe there is significant potential upside in the project, and we are now considering how best to build on the results obtained from Creswick to date to create value for ECR shareholders.

Creswick is one of five projects owned by ECR within the Victoria goldfields and forms part of what is rapidly becoming a highly significant and strategic portfolio in the region.”

FURTHER INFORMATION

The initial results of RC drilling at Creswick by MGA were announced on 8 May 2019, and there was evidence that the results were subject to a nugget effect.

In order to assess the significance of this effect, MGA’s consultants devised a testing program using gravity and electrostatic concentration (GEC) on full bags of RC drill cuttings, which would constitute the whole sample recovered from each metre of drilling (less sub-samples obtained at the time of drilling via a splitter mounted on the drill rig).

In nuggety gold systems, increasing sample size increases the chance of nuggets being captured in the sample, and thus being appreciated as part of the gold endowment of the system.

Typically, only a small sub-sample of the drill cuttings generated by each metre of RC drilling is analysed (assayed) for gold. In the case of MGA’s 2019 RC drilling at Creswick, two sub-samples of approximately 2 kilograms were obtained from the rig-mounted splitter, out of up to approximately 30 kilograms of cuttings per metre. The first sub-sample was sent for assay by the Leachwell method at Gekko Systems, an independent laboratory in Victoria, and the results were announced on 8 May 2019.

Using the GEC method on the full bags, MGA was able to subject larger, more representative sample sizes to analysis. More details regarding the GEC testing process are given in ECR’s announcement dated 27 August 2019, which can be viewed at the following link:

https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/ecr_minerals_plc/news/rns/story/xq2j1qx

In parallel, 74 duplicate sub-samples obtained at the time of drilling via the rig-mounted splitter have been analysed by the Leachwell method at Gekko Systems. This has been done to enable comparison with the assay results (obtained by the same method) for the first set of sub-samples, which will assist in classifying the nugget effect as extreme, major or minor.

RESULTS OF ANALYSIS

A total of 129 ‘full-bag’ samples were analysed using the GEC process.

• In the case of 102 samples, no gold had been detected in the first sub-sample analysed by the Leachwell method. In 6 of these samples, the GEC process detected gold (up to 0.55 g/t).
• In the case of 9 samples, the GEC process returned a higher gold grade than analysis of the first sub-sample.
• In the case of a further 9 samples, the GEC process returned a lower gold grade than analysis of the first sub-sample.
• In the case of a further 9 samples in which gold had been detected in analysis of the first sub-sample (up to 0.11 g/t), no gold was detected by the GEC process.

Table 1: Assay results for all intervals with at least one result >0.1 g/t gold

Hole	From (m)	To (m)	First sub-sample (g/t gold)	Second sub-sample (g/t gold)	GEC test (g/t gold)
CSR006	15	16	44.63	80.97	63.03
CSR012	52	53	2.49	2.35	2.28
CSR006	14	15	0.12	0.11	0.11
CSR006	22	23	0.39	0.68	1.38
CSR010	85	86	0.27	0.78	1.32
CSR011	8	9	0.27	0.18	0.59
CSR010	84	85	x	x	0.02
CSR001	16	17	0.29	2.97	0.51
CSR011	6	7	0.63	0.32	0.02
CSR006	17	18	0.15	0.42	0.18
CSR007	39	40	0.22	0.52	0.01
CSR012	53	54	0.28	0.07	0.24
CSR006	18	19	0.06	x	0.30
CSR006	20	21	x	0.10	0.12
CSR001	18	19	0.11	x	0.01
CSR001	19	20	0.07	x	x
CSR001	11	12	0.06	x	x
CSR004	36	37	0.00	ANC	0.55
CSR007	52	53	0.00	ANC	0.34
CSR001	15	16	0.25	ANC	0.01
CSR010	81	82	0.00	ANC	0.23
CSR011	19	20	0.14	ANC	0.18
CSR006	16	17	0.11	ANC	0.17
CSR006	47	48	0.00	ANC	0.13
CSR007	38	39	0.11	ANC	0.00
CSR004	22	23	0.11	ANC	0.09

x = below detection
ANC = analysis not conducted

COMPETENT PERSON STATEMENT

The information in this announcement that relates to exploration results is based on information compiled by Dr Rodney Boucher of Linex Pty Ltd. Linex Pty Ltd provides geological services to Mercator Gold Australia Pty Ltd, including the services of Dr Boucher, who has a PhD in geology, is a Member and RPGeo of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists and is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Dr Boucher has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the ‘Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves’. Dr Boucher consents to the inclusion in the announcement of the material based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.

MARKET ABUSE REGULATIONS (EU) No. 596/2014

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 (MAR). Upon the publication of this announcement via Regulatory Information Service (RIS), this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

 ECR Minerals plc	Tel: [phone]
David Tang, Non-Executive Chairman
Craig Brown, Director & CEO
Email: [e-mail]
Website: www.ecrminerals.com
WH Ireland Ltd	Tel: [phone]
Nominated Adviser
Katy Mitchell/James Sinclair-Ford
SI Capital Ltd	Tel: [phone]
Broker	Â
Nick Emerson	Â
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ABOUT ECR MINERALS PLC
ECR is a mineral exploration and development company. ECR’s wholly owned Australian subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia Pty Ltd has 100% ownership of the Avoca, Bailieston, Creswick, Moormbool and Timor gold exploration licences in central Victoria, Australia and the Windidda gold project in the Yilgarn region, Western Australia.

ECR has earned a 25% interest in the Danglay epithermal gold project, 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 Argentine subsidiary Ochre Mining has 100% ownership of the SLM gold project in La Rioja, Argentina. Exploration at SLM has focused on identifying small tonnage mesothermal gold deposits which may be suitable for relatively near-term production.

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