ECR Minerals #ECR – Planned Follow-up Drilling in early September at Blue Moon Prospect, Bailieston, Victoria

ECR Minerals plc (LON: ECR), the exploration and development company focused on gold in Australia, is pleased to release the upcoming plans and intentions for further drilling at the Blue Moon prospect in early September 2022.

ECR Minerals plc has 100% ownership of the Bailieston Project (EL5433), which contains the gold prospects known as HR3, Cherry Tree, Blue Moon and Black Cat. The projects are operated by ECR’s Australian wholly owned subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia Pty Ltd (“MGA”).

ECR CEO Andrew Haythorpe commented: “The style of mineralisation at Blue Moon is intriguing. Compared to the scale of mineralisation seen at HR3, where typically a result could be 50cm across, we are looking at potential widths of around 7m. The previous Blue Moon campaign in 2019 recorded consistent mineralisation at hole BBM007 of 15m @ 3.81 g/t gold, which could potentially contain commercial levels of mineralisation.”

“I look forward to reporting back on the upcoming 2022 drilling campaign at Blue Moon.”

ECR Chairman David Tang added: “Along with the ECR board, I am very much enthused by the potential opportunity on offer at Blue Moon. Our company has a portfolio of what we consider to be valuable gold exploration assets across Victoria, but I know Andrew and Adam view Blue Moon as an asset with significant potential, and as such are very keen to commence work there. I very much look forward to further progress updates in the coming weeks.”

HIGHLIGHTS

• Permits in place for planned diamond drilling for an initial four holes over 1000 metres, anticipated to begin in early September 2022.
• Drilling designed to follow-up good results from the RC Drilling finished in 2019.
• Plans are already in place to expand the drilling programme subject to results.

An overview plan of the planned drill sites can be found here:

Fig 1: https://www.ecrminerals.com/images/2022/fig1_BBM_DD_Planned_2022.png

BLUE MOON PROSPECT

The Blue Moon prospect is located 8.5km directly south of the currently drilled HR3 prospect. The mineralisation at Blue Moon is hosted within a massive sandstone body striking east to west which differs to the majority of other gold prospects within the region that usually strike north-south. In addition, quartz mineralisation is generally absent, which as a result means that historic prospectors do not appear to have discovered the outcrop. RC drilling in 2019 shows gold mineralisation to be associated with disseminated sulphide, present as arsenopyrite. The eastern end of the known outcrop has been cut by an interpreted cross fault.

OVERVIEW OF PREVIOUS EXPLORATION WORK

Three diamond drillholes and twelve RC drillholes were completed during the 2018 and 2019 period. This drilling is broadly spaced over a strike length of 110m, and the deepest intercept isn’t more than 175m below surface. The RC drilling campaign during 2019 showed promise on the most westerly drill section where the best results have included 2m @ 17.87 g/t Au from 51m (RC hole BBM007) and 3m @ 3.88 g/t Au from 169m (RC hole BBM006). It is emphasised that both these intercepts are supported within part of a broader zone of lower grade mineralisation such as 15m @ 3.81 g/t Au (BBM007) and 11m @ 2.42 g/t Au (BBM007). As such, these increased widths could be supported by grades of potential economic interest, but it is not guaranteed. Drilling to date has not continued into and across the track easement to the west of the RC Drilling (see fig 1 above).

Results from the 2019 RC drill program can be found in the announcement dated 1 May 2019 “New Gold Discovery-Blue Moon Deposit, Victoria, Australia” here.

INITIAL DRILLING PROGRAM SEPTEMBER 2022

Drilling will be undertaken using ECR’s owned and operated diamond drill rig named ‘MIDAS’. Initial drillholes will be collared within the public track easement as shown in (fig 1). From these two locations, drilling will firstly investigate the possible strike extension of the Blue Moon prospect west of and at the point where the RC drill program in 2019 finished. Four initial holes are planned for an approximate total of 1000m, the outcome of which will determine further drilling. If the planned drilling successfully intersects mineralisation, this has potential to double the strike extent of the prospect.

NEXT STEPS

Previous drilling at Blue Moon only covered a small section of the outcrop. The deposit is open at depth and also along strike to the west and east. Permissions from landholders are currently in progress to explore the potential strike further to the east where an interpretative cross fault ends the known current outcrop. Plans are already in place to expand the drilling programme subject to results from the initial four holes.

The style of the Blue Moon mineralisation also raises further questions over other potential opportunities within the region to discover another ‘Blue Moon’. ECR is well positioned in this regard, with adjacent exploration tenements to EL5433, covering similar regional geology awaiting approval.

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 eight licence applications outstanding including two licence applications lodged in eastern Victoria. (Tambo gold project). MGA is currently drilling at both the Bailieston (EL5433) and Creswick (EL6148) projects and has an experienced exploration team with significant local knowledge in the Victoria Goldfields and wider region.

https://mercatorgold.com.au/

ECR also owns 100% of an Australian subsidiary LUX Exploration Pty Ltd (“LUX”) which has three licence applications covering 900 km2 covering a relatively unexplored area in Queensland, Australia.

Home

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 70% 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.