ECR Minerals #ECR – Collaboration with Geological Survey of Queensland on Lolworth Project

ECR Minerals plc (LON: ECR), the exploration and development company focused on gold in Australia, is pleased to announce it is working in partnership with the Geological Survey of Queensland (“GSQ”) to further investigate the critical minerals potential at the Company’s Lolworth Project.

HIGHLIGHTS 

• Site visit and sample collection undertaken by GSQ in September 2024
• Samples to undergo geochemical analysis for critical minerals including Niobium and Tantalum
• Work is being undertaken at no cost to ECR Minerals
• Data will provide valuable insights and help guide further exploration initiatives at the Lolworth Project

Geological Survey of Queensland

The GSQ is the state’s custodian of geoscience knowledge as well as data and provides advice regarding Queensland’s mineral and energy resources and resource potential. GSQ plays a key role in attracting investment to Queensland’s resources sector by improving understanding of the state’s prospectivity and resource potential.

Lolworth Project, Queensland

In September 2024, ECR Minerals was approached by the GSQ to undertake an evaluation of the critical minerals potential at some of the Company’s prospect areas at the Lolworth Gold and Rare Earths Project in Queensland. A site visit, which included mapping and the collection of rock chip samples, took place predominantly at the Oaky Creek prospect in the central-north area of the Lolworth Project. Stream sampling in this area has previously detected Niobium in concentrate samples. Geochemical analysis will be carried out by the GSQ on pegmatites to better understand their fertility for hosting critical minerals, in particular Niobium and Tantalum. Results are expected in the coming weeks.

Stream sampling by ECR Minerals’ own field crews for rare earths on the eastern side of the 1,000 km² project area is almost complete. Regional geological mapping has indicated the presence of significant pegmatitic intrusions. As previously announced by the Company, a bulk sample has been taken from the Oaky Creek Niobium streamline which will be used for mineralogical purposes to aid in tracking down the source rock.

Adam Jones, ECR’s Chief Geologist, said: ‘’We’ve been saying for some time that the Lolworth Project has significant potential for critical minerals and I’m delighted that the GSQ has formed a similar opinion and is now assisting us as we get a better handle on its geology. The work currently being done by the GSQ, which is at no cost to ECR, will provide an invaluable second opinion and verification of our own findings and will help guide our next steps. I’m looking forward to receiving the results which will give us an indication as to just how prospective for critical minerals the source rocks are. I would like to thank the GSQ for the work they’re undertaking as we continue to develop the Lolworth Project into an asset which could become significant not just for ECR but potentially also for the state of Queensland.”   

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.

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Glossary 

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 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 also holds a royalty on the SLM gold project in La Rioja Province, Argentina.

MGA also has approximately A$75 million of unutilised tax losses incurred during previous operations