ECR Minerals #ECR – Further Gold Results from Soil Sampling at Quartz Hill, Creswick

ECR Minerals plc (LON: ECR), the exploration and development company focused on gold in Australia, is pleased to announce newly received gold results from soil sampling activities at license EL006184 (Creswick), Victoria, Australia.

ECR Minerals also has 100% ownership of two adjacent approved exploration tenements (EL006713 and EL006907) at Creswick.

ECR CEO Andrew Haythorpe commented: “Although our current focus is on developing our Lolworth and Hurricane projects in Queensland, Creswick remains a key part of the ECR asset portfolio. I am delighted that the sampling work undertaken by Adam and the team has identified two potential 100m gold ‘shoots’, with additional potential for further shoots along the DMS strike and south towards Ballarat. We have planned a further visit to the Quartz Hill area at Creswick for the field team once our scheduled work at Hurricane and Lolworth in Queensland has been completed.” 

“l look forward to reporting further findings from our asset portfolio in the coming days and weeks.”

HIGHLIGHTS

• Results from soil sampling activities at Quartz Hill, Creswick have identified two likely sources of gold mineralisation.
• Gold results in residual soils up to 0.3 ppm Au. Two anomalous ‘shoots’, each approximately 100m long delineated.
• Exploration for other sources or ‘shoots’ further along strike is open to the north and south of the area sampled.

Figures related to this announcement can be found here:

Figure One: Overview of the Creswick Project area and prospect locations:

Figure 1: https://www.ecrminerals.com/images/2023/Fig1_CQH_230721.png

Figure Two: Soil sampling results for Creswick (Quartz Hill) showing results (Au ppb), gold anomalies and historic gold workings.

Figure 2: https://www.ecrminerals.com/images/2023/Fig2_CQH_230721.png

QUARTZ HILL SAMPLING

Quartz Hill is a ridgeline located 3km to the NW of ECR’s Brewery Lane property (see Figure One above). The area is surrounded by historic alluvial gold workings, some of which head to the base of Quartz Hill. A soil sampling grid at a spacing of 15m x 15m was completed over the area to test up-hill for potential sources of gold. The final results from this work have delineated two possible sources of gold within the gridded area. These two anomalous areas (also known as ‘shoots’), each cover a 100m area along strike. Two historically mined alluvial gullies are sited adjacent to these two anomalies and can be seen clearly on the map in Figure 2 above.

NEXT STEPS

Two historical adits (tunnels) lead underneath the gridded hill which the Board believes will provide further opportunities for sampling of in-situ veins when our field team returns to Creswick. Quartz Hill is located within Crown Land to which ECR has full access to undertake any future drilling campaigns. In the meantime, soil sampling activities will continue on an ad-hoc basis at Creswick given that the Board’s primary focus is on building the Company’s North Queensland exploration assets at Lolworth and Hurricane. Nonetheless, Creswick is still considered an key asset within the ECR portfolio.

PREVIOUS SOIL SAMPLING ACCOMPANYING PROJECT AREA

The results today compliment previously reported soil sampling results across ECR’s Creswick tenements from exploration campaigns undertaken throughout 2021-2022. The primary focus at Creswick remains along strike at the Dimocks Main Shale trend (DMS) and parallel mineralised systems which are believed to extend south towards the historic mining centre of Ballarat. These mineralised systems are also believed to be the source of the historic rich alluvial gold (>70 tonnes) shed into the adjacent creeks and ancient river beds and mined over the last century. Previous announcements regarding sampling along strike of the mineralised trends can be found below:

• Davey Road Prospect – 22 December 2022 here
• Bush Inn Road Prospect – 17 April 2023 here
• Kuboid Hill and Mills Reef – 2 May 2023 here

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:

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