Blue Mountain Gold Project – Exploration Update
Summary by AI BETAClose X
18 August 2025
ECR MINERALS PLC
("ECR Minerals", "ECR" or the "Company")
Blue Mountain Gold Project - Exploration Update
ECR Minerals plc (LON: ECR), the exploration and development company focussed on gold in Australia, provides an update on its ongoing exploration activities at the Blue Mountain gold project in Queensland, Australia (the "Blue Mountain Project").
HIGHLIGHTS
· Alluvial channel drilling programme now three-quarters complete, targeting the upper reaches of the Denny Gully area over a length of 2.5km.
· Multiple flats intersected containing visible gold, highlighting the potential for significant volumes of gold-bearing gravels.
· First laboratory assays expected by early September 2025, with additional samples from Denny's Gully in preparation on site.
· Drilling at the Lolworth gold and rare earths project in Queensland, Australia (the "Lolworth Project") is now scheduled to commence by the last week of August 2025, after which trial washing of Blue Mountain material will continue.
Blue Mountain Project Drilling Programme
Drilling at the Lower Patterson Area, the lowest point of the current drilling programme, has identified visual gold across a flat measuring approximately 205 metres long by 100 metres wide and in places up to three metres deep (see Figure 1). The Board believes that this zone has the potential to host between 35,000 and 40,000 bank cubic metres ("b.c.m") of gold-bearing gravels. Importantly, this area is connected to a series of upstream flats where drilling has also revealed visual gold over a further 170 metres in length by 17 metres wide, at depths of between one and three metres. The Board believes that this upstream section could potentially contain an additional 6,000 b.c.m of gravels.
Samples from both the Lower Patterson flat and from the upstream flat have been dispatched to the laboratory for assay, with the first results expected later by early September 2025. In parallel, the Company is preparing a further batch of samples from the lower end of Denny's Gully (see Figure 2), where visual gold has once again been observed within the main alluvial channels. Once received, the laboratory results will assist the team in estimating gold grades across the project area.
Figure 1
Figure 2
As indicated in the Company's announcement of 4 August 2025, the team are remaining at the Blue Mountain Project for longer than planned in order to ensure that they fully optimise the use of the drill rig to map out areas of interest. With the ongoing success from the drill rig, the move to the Lolworth Project has now been put back by another week. Once drilling at the Lolworth Project has commenced, which is now scheduled for the last week of August 2025, ECR intends to excavate representative material adjacent to the completed drilling at the Blue Mountain Project and run it through the trial wash plant. The purpose of this part of the programme is to test whether drilling results provide a reliable indication of grade by comparing sample data against recovered gold. The outcome of this work will provide important information to guide future exploration in relation to the extent of the tenement. Beyond the current drilling area, ECR also holds tenure covering a further prospective six kilometres of strike downstream along South Kariboe Creek, offering significant exploration upside.
Blue Mountain Project
The Blue Mountain Gold Project is located in Queensland, Australia, within the historic North Queensland goldfields. The Blue Mountain Project is characterised by extensive alluvial gold workings along the Kariboe Creek and its tributaries, many of which were only partially tested by historic operations. ECR has established a systematic drilling programme across these alluvial channels to assess their potential for modern gold recovery, supported by on-site trial washing to calibrate and verify results. With the combination of extensive alluvial gravels and the Company's capacity to undertake trial processing, the Blue Mountain Project is viewed by the Board as having strong near-term production potential alongside its longer-term exploration upside.
Next Steps
· Receipt of initial laboratory assay results from the Blue Mountain Project.
· Completion of the current alluvial channel drilling programme covering 2.5km of strike.
· Commencement of drilling at the Lolworth Project by end of the last week of August 2025.
· Trial washing of representative Blue Mountain material to confirm drilling results and provide further insight into gold recovery potential.
· Economic evaluation of the Blue Mountain Project.
Nick Tulloch, Chairman of ECR Minerals, commented "We continue to be very encouraged by our findings at the Blue Mountain Project and our decision to use the percussion drill rig for site investigations remains a success. While laboratory assays remain pending, the extent of visual gold already observed in multiple channel flats highlights the potential scale of this system - which even now is only partly explored. By running material through the trial wash plant, we will be able to confirm the relationship between drilling results and actual recoveries and thereafter develop a detailed mining plan for the project. With a further prospective 6km of strike downstream along South Kariboe Creek, the Blue Mountain Project continues to represent one of the most exciting opportunities within our portfolio."
Review of Announcement by Qualified Person
This announcement has been reviewed by Adam Jones, Chief Geologist 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:
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ECR Minerals Plc |
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8080 8176 |
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Nick Tulloch, Chairman Andrew Scott, Director |
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Website: www.ecrminerals.com |
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Allenby Capital Limited |
Tel: +44 (0) 3328 5656 |
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Nominated Adviser Nick Naylor / Alex Brearley / Vivek Bhardwaj |
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Axis Capital Markets Limited |
Tel: +44 (0) 203 026 0320 |
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Broker |
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Lewis Jones |
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SI Capital Ltd |
Tel: +44 (0) 1483 413500 |
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Broker |
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Nick Emerson |
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Brand Communications |
Tel: +44 (0) 7976 431608 |
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Public & Investor Relations |
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Alan Green |
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ABOUT ECR MINERALS PLC
ECR Minerals is a mineral exploration and development company. ECR's wholly owned Australian subsidiary ECR Minerals (Australia) Pty Ltd ("ECR Australia") 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 ECR Minerals (Queensland) Pty Ltd 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.
ECR Australia also has approximately A$75 million of unutilised tax losses incurred during previous operations.
Glossary
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Au: |
Gold |
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b.c.m: |
bank cubic metres (Metric) |
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g/t: |
Grammes per Tonne (Metric) |
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km: |
Kilometres (Metric) |
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km²: |
Kilometre squared (Metric) |
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M: |
Metres (Metric) |
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Sq: |
Square (Metric) |
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