ECR Minerals #ECR – Annual Report

LONDON: 3 APRIL 2023 – ECR Minerals plc is pleased to announce its audited financial statements for the twelve months ended 30 September 2022 (“FY 2022”). The information presented below has been extracted from the Company’s Annual Report and Accounts for FY2023.

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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). MGA is currently drilling at the Bailieston Blue Moon Project (EL5433) and undertaking geochemical exploration on the Creswick (EL6148) project and has an experienced exploration team with significant local knowledge in the Victoria Goldfields and wider region.

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 Queensland, Australia.

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.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This announcement may include forward looking statements. Such statements may be subject to numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and therefore actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward looking statements. Any forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date hereof (unless stated otherwise) and, except as may be required by applicable laws or regulations (including the AIM Rules for Companies), the Company disclaims any obligation to update or modify such forward-looking statements because of new information, future events or for any other reason.

The Directors of ECR Minerals plc (the “Directors” or the “Board”) present their report and audited financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2022 for ECR Minerals plc (“ECR”, the “Company” or the “Parent Company”) and its subsidiaries on a consolidated basis (the “Group”)

Chairman’s Statement

Although the year to September 2022 has been a year of significant operational progress, it was overshadowed for the most part by the untimely and tragic death of long serving CEO Craig Brown. Craig was a close personal friend and confidant of mine, and his death in October 2021 was a profound shock to us all. A year on and his family are still with us as enthusiastic supporters and shareholders, keen to see his legacy fulfilled.

As a result of Craig’s death, an interim management committee was set up to oversee the continued smooth running of the Company, including the ongoing drill campaigns underway in Victoria. This was not without its challenges, but thanks to an experienced operational team on the ground in Victoria, our now Technical Director Adam Jones oversaw the continued smooth running and restart of diamond drilling activities at Bailieston.

The search for a CEO to replace Craig started at the end of 2021, and by April 2022, Andrew Haythorpe’s experience as a board member with numerous listed mining companies put him in pole position as our clear favoured candidate. Since his arrival, Andrew has adopted a structured and methodical approach in assessing our existing assets and as we have seen post year end, he is now bringing his own ideas and projects into the fold. The most significant manifestation of this was the announcement post year end that ECR had been granted a conditional option to acquire the entire issued share capital of Placer Gold Pty Ltd, the beneficial holder of three granted mining tenements (EPM 27518, EPM 25855 and EPM 19437) located in NE Queensland, together known as the Hurricane Project. Following a fundraise announced post year end, the Company is now in a position to potentially complete on the option acquisition once the steps outlined in the agreement have been undertaken. Hurricane is a late-stage exploration project that offers three tenements all highly prospective for gold and antimony.

ECR’s operational hub is currently centred in the state of Victoria in Australia, and through our wholly owned Australian subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia Pty Ltd (“MGA”) we have continued to develop our projects at Bailieston and Creswick. Through our other wholly owned subsidiary LUX Exploration Pty Ltd (“LUX”) we are continuing to develop potential gold and battery metals assets in the Lolworth Range area in Northern Queensland and following the grant of exploration licences there in February 2022, our field team have undertaken a comprehensive stream sediment sampling campaign, with some impressive results announced post year end.

In Victoria, following the discovery of the highest-grade gold intercept yet revealed at the Historic Reserve #3 (HR3) prospect, the MGA team completed a series of intensive diamond drilling campaigns at HR3, including the prospective Byron, Dan Genders, Scoulars and Maori Reefs, plus numerous cross-structures. In August 2022, despite delays in receiving assay results from the labs, results from several holes led to the discovery of two mineralisation corridors within the Maori Anticline at Historic Reserve 3 (HR3). Post year end, we announced final gold results from the 2022 HR3 drill programme and, along with the earlier results, the full dataset is now undergoing evaluation prior to announcing our next steps for 2023. Also post year end, a further two exploration licences were granted to MGA at Bailieston, bringing our total land package there to 179 square km, including our own property at Nagambie Rushworth Road, acquired in summer 2021.

Of all the Bailieston projects, it was Blue Moon that piqued our new CEO’s interest due to its unusual geology. Blue Moon was finally drilled at the end of the year in focus, and post year end an encouraging grade from the first Blue Moon drill hole was reported.

Historically, a lot of investor interest has centred on our Creswick project, where ECR also owns a second property at Springmount. Following a visit to the Creswick tenements with Technical Director Adam Jones earlier this year, Andrew Haythorpe took the decision that the Company should re-assay the Creswick diamond drill core. This proved to be a master stroke, with high grade results revealed including 0.7m @47.75 g/t Au (see announcement dated [19 October 2022] for the full details of these results). Our key licence there was renewed during the year for a further 5 years, and along with the grant of the adjacent Ballarat East Nerrina Goldfield licence, our team are gearing up for a new focus on Creswick in 2023.

ECR (through MGA) also owns two exploration licences in eastern Victoria, known as the Tambo project. Licence EL007484 covering the Tambo River and Swifts Creek region was granted in December 2021, and this territory will also be in focus for exploration in 2023.

In December 2021, ECR formalised its 25% shareholding in Cordillera Tiger Gold Resources, owner of Exploration Licence EP-006 at the Danglay Gold Project, N Philippines. April 2022 saw ECR acquire further shares from an existing shareholder to take a majority 70% stake in the project, bringing the nascent value at Danglay back to the fore on our balance sheet. With our focus very much on Australia, several options are being explored to crystallize value here.

In maintaining intensive drilling campaigns and exploration activities, ECR’s capital position has reduced during the year, and now stands at £612,582. Following the previously mentioned post year end fundraising, and the sale of the Bendigo property announced in August 2022. With further asset disposals under consideration, the costs of our scheduled activities for the coming year are in hand.

We have significantly advanced the value of our assets across the group during the year, and now with Andrew’s leadership I believe we have never been better positioned to deliver transformative value to our shareholders.

Weili (David) Tang

Chairman
31 March 2023

Chief Executive Officer Report

In my first report to you as your CEO, I must first pay tribute to my predecessor Craig Brown. I am under no illusions that his are big shoes to fill, but it is my sincere hope that with his family seeking fulfilment of his legacy, I and your Board can bring some of these key assets to fruition.

I would also like to express my gratitude to the Interim Committee of Chairman David Tang, Technical Director Adam Jones, and Non-Executive Director’s Andrew Scott and Trevor Davenport for overseeing the day to day running of the business before my arrival.

The early part of the year saw the gold price continue to build, pushing back over US$2,000oz in March, nearly reaching the highs of US$2,067 oz in March 2020. That was the best performance segment of the year however, as rising interest rates and hawkish outlooks from the US Fed and the European Central Bank saw the gold price slide lower to close out the ECR financial year at US$1,618 oz. It should be remembered that although gold is considered a hedge against rising inflation, higher rates raise the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion, which will invariably weigh on the gold price. Post year end we have seen a resurgence in value, which we believe is due to gold’s compelling safe-haven status set against a highly uncertain macro picture.

Since my arrival in April 2022 I have focussed on ECR’s existing drilling operations in Victoria, Australia. I took time to get to know the projects at Bailieston and Creswick so I could form a judgement on how these assets could fit into an expanding gold exploration Company. I was very impressed with what I found. I spent time exploring the locations with Adam Jones, and as a geologist I was highly impressed with both the work he’d overseen to date and also his ideas on further developing each project.

With my knowledge of Northern prior experience exploring in North Queensland, I was already aware of the history and relatively unexplored nature of Lolworth Range near to the Charters Towers region, and, along with Adam Jones, I am equally enthusiastic over the opportunity and visible gold observed in the field with assays now returning from the initial field campaign. I also look forward to exploring and possibly developing the Hurricane project, on which ECR announced a conditional option to buy 100% for cash and shares in 2023 just after the financial year end.

Victoria Work Overview:

Bailieston:

The Bailieston area is sited 47 km east of Kirkland Lake Gold’s prolific Fosterville gold mine, which produced 509,601 ounces in 2021, with head grades approaching 23.7g/t. To date, ECR has drilled 9,485m at Bailieston across several projects since Jan 2021. Following the discovery of the highest-grade gold intercept yet revealed at the Historic Reserve #3 (HR3) prospect, the team completed a series of intensive diamond drilling campaigns at HR3, and in August 2022, results from several holes led to the discovery of two mineralised corridors within the Maori Anticline at HR3. Post year end, we announced final gold results from the 2022 HR3 drill programme and, along with the earlier results, this full dataset is now being evaluated by our geology team. Also post year end, a further two exploration licenses were granted at Bailieston, bringing our total land package there to 179 square km, including our own property at Nagambie Rushworth Road, acquired in summer 2021.

Of particular interest is the Blue Moon project due to its unusual geology and mineralization style. It offers unusually broad width and consistency (true width up to 7m). RC drilling in 2019 revealed 11m @ 5.13 g/t Au and 21m @ g/t Au, with mineralisation open to the east, west and down-dip. Once all the results are received, we can then make decisions on next steps.

Creswick:

During the summer of 2022, the management team came to London where I presented our investment case at the Proactive One 2 One event. Post year end I returned to London to attend 121 Mining Investment and Mines and Money. On each visit I was struck by how much investor interest was centred around Creswick in the wake of works and drilling undertaken there since 2019. It is also here at Springmount that ECR owns a second property with some historical mine workings on the land. Following my initial visit to the Creswick tenements with Technical Director Adam Jones earlier this year, we decided re-assay the Creswick diamond drill core. This proved to be a good decision, and just after our year end, the re assay revealed high grade results including 0.7m @47.75 g/t Au. Our key license there was renewed during the year for a further 5 years, and along with the grant of the adjacent Ballarat East Nerrina Goldfield license, armed with the re assay data our team are gearing up for a new focus on Creswick in 2023.

Tambo:

There are two exploration licences one still in application and the other now granted in eastern Victoria, known as the Tambo project. Licence EL007484 covering the Tambo River and Swifts Creek region was granted in December 2021, and this territory will also be in focus for exploration in 2023. The territory covers portions of the historic Swifts Creek/Omeo and Tambo River Goldfields that have recorded historical gold production totalling 225,000 oz (Geological Survey of Victoria). Tambo is considered to be prospective for orogenic reef gold and additionally for intrusion-related gold and base metal systems.

N Queensland Work Overview:

Lolworth Range

The Lolworth Range area in North Queensland has been closely monitored by ECR’s Head Geologist Adam Jones for at least eight years and is considered prospective for gold. In February 2022, exploration licences for tenements EPM27901, EPM27902 and EPM27903 were granted (they will expire in five years on 31 January 2027). ECR has a commitment expenditure of AUD$650,000 for the first three years across the three licence areas, and our team wasted no time in getting on the ground there, undertaking a comprehensive stream sediment sampling campaign, with some impressive results announced post year end with visible gold in 14% of the first 125 stream sediment samples. This is very encouraging. Further anomalies with tin and tungsten, plus multiple pegmatites (potential lithium sources) were observed and we are now putting together a follow up plan of action.

Hurricane Project (Post Year End)

Post year end, ECR was granted a conditional option to acquire the entire issued share capital of Placer Gold Pty Ltd, the beneficial holder of three granted mining tenements (EPM 27518, EPM 25855 and EPM 19437) located in NE Queensland, together known as the Hurricane Project. Hurricane was discovered 5 years ago by a geologist who followed the Hodgkinson River tributaries to their source and discovered numerous gold veins at surface with grades ranging from 1- 20g/t over widths of 0.5-7m. Here ECR has a conditional option to buy outright for cash and shares in 2023, and with a modest A$200,000 spend commitment, we now have a drilling campaign planned there for July 2023. The acquisition will complete subject to those results. We consider Hurricane to be a late-stage exploration project with three tenements all highly prospective for gold and antimony.

Overview of Exploration Licence Portfolio

At the end of the financial year under review, ECR held three granted mineral exploration licences in Victoria (EL005433, EL006148 and EL006907). The granting of Creswick license EL006907 to the south of EL006148 links Creswick to the Ballarat East-Nerrina Goldfield. ECR holds granted exploration licence EL5433 at Bailieston and post year end has been granted Bailieston licenses EK006911 and EL 006912.  At Tambo ECR owns granted exploration licence EL007484 covering Swifts Creek and the Tambo River.

ECR holds three exploration licences (EPM27901, EPM27902 and EPM27903) in the Lolworth area, North Queensland, and subject to exercise of the option to acquire Placer Gold Ltd (Hurricane Project), will own granted exploration licenses EPM 27518, EPM 25855 and EPM 19437.

These are augmented by exploration licence application EL007296 at Bailieston, exploration licence application EL006713 at Creswick and exploration license EL007486 at Tambo.

In November 2020, ECR lodged exploration licence application EL007537 for an area which surrounds mining licences MIN5396 and MIN4847. These mining licences, which are not held by ECR, contain the operating Ballarat gold mine. The area of EL007537 includes the southern extension of the Dimocks Main Shale, which is the principal target of exploration at the Creswick gold project located a short distance to the north, the northern extension of the Ballarat East line and the depth extensions of the Ballarat West line. EL007537 is in a competitive bid with three other applicants.

Danglay Gold Project, Philippines

In December 2021, ECR formalised its 25% shareholding in Cordillera Tiger Gold Resources, owner of Exploration License EP-006 at the Danglay Gold Project, N Philippines. The project is located in a prolific gold and copper mining district in the north of the Philippines. April 2022 saw ECR acquire further shares from an existing shareholder to take a majority 70% stake in the project, bringing the nascent value at Danglay back to the fore on the ECR balance sheet. With our focus very much on Australia, several options are being explored to crystallize value here. We will report back to the markets in due course.

Avoca and Timor Exploration Licence Royalties

In April 2020 MGA entered into an agreement for the sale of Avoca and Timor exploration licences EL5387, EL006280, EL006913 and EL006278 in Victoria to Currawong Resources Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fosterville South Exploration Ltd. A cash payment of US$500,000 was received, and ECR is entitled to:

1. A further payment of A$1 for every ounce of gold or gold equivalent of measured resource, indicated resource or inferred resource estimated within the area of one or more of the licences in any combination or aggregation of the foregoing, up to a maximum of A$1,000,000 in aggregate; and
2. A further payment of A$1 for every ounce of gold or gold equivalent produced from within the area of one or more of the licences, up to a maximum of A$1,000,000 in aggregate.

SLM Gold Project Royalties

In February 2020, the Company sold its wholly owned Argentine subsidiary Ochre Mining SA, which holds the SLM gold project in La Rioja, Argentina. The sale allows ECR to focus on its core gold exploration activities in Australia.  The purchaser, Hanaq Argentina SA (“Hanaq”), is a Chinese-owned company engaged in lithium, base and precious metals exploration in Northwest Argentina including Salta, Jujuy and La Rioja, with a highly experienced management team.

ECR retains an NSR royalty of up to 2% to a maximum of USD 2.7 million in respect of future production from the SLM gold project, owned by Hanaq Argentina SA (Hanaq).  The Directors believe that Hanaq has the operational capabilities and access to Chinese investment capital necessary to put the SLM project into production, subject to the usual prerequisites such as further exploration and feasibility studies being successfully completed (if deemed necessary by Hanaq) and to the necessary permits for production being obtained.

FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2021

As a Group which is not generating revenue from operations, means that profit and loss is a metric of less utility than in many other businesses. For the year to 30 September 2022 the Group recorded a total comprehensive loss of £2,272,658 compared with £1,113,870 for the year to 30 September 2021. This increase is reflected principally in the impairment of Danglay Gold project.

The Group’s net assets at 30 September 2022 were £5,871,625 in comparison with £7,657,684 at 30 September 2021.

We have taken measures to preserve cash going forward, including asset disposals. ECR currently owns two properties in Victoria at Nagambie-Rushworth Road, Bailieston and at Brewing Lane, Springmount in Creswick. A third property close to Bendigo was disposed of during the year in question, raising a further A$950,000 (£550,000) toward our project exploration campaigns. Further disposals are under consideration, and post year end, the Company raised a further £900,000 before expenses. The Group expect further disposal in 2023, potential fundraising and exercising of outstanding warrants can cover our scheduled exploration costs for the foreseeable future.

Finally I would like to put on record my thanks to ECR shareholders for their continued support, and secondly for the welcome I have received from so many I have met at events and shows throughout the year. I fully expect to deliver some meaningful results from our key projects in the coming year, along with some real shareholder value.

Andrew Haythorpe

CEO

31 March 2023

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