Tag Archives: Keith Whitehouse

Time to Fillyaboots with ECR Minerals (AIM:ECR) as Victoria Gold Projects continue to evolve and gold attracts record investments.  

• High grade assays at Timor
• Exploration underway at Avoca
• Whole of bag testing results at Creswick
• Record breaking month for gold
• Time to Fillyaboots

 For those keen on regular progress updates, Australia-focussed mining company ECR Minerals (AIM: ECR) hits the mark by keeping investors up to date with their every move on Twitter. Of late, the three major developments over August at Timor, Avoca and Creswick projects have focussed attention, driven as much as anything by the rising demand for gold amid dwindling macroeconomic conditions.

1) High grade assay results demonstrate potential for Timor Gold Project to follow in the footsteps of Maryborough goldfield

The first of these was an impressive set of rock chip sampling results at the Timor project, which gave ECR investors plenty to smile about at the beginning of the month.

High grade gold assays of 22.6 g/t and 26.3 g/t were recorded respectively from Shaw’s Reef and Anglo-Saxon Reef prospects.

Mined to 152m depth, ECR revealed that Shaw’s Reef had produced 11,465 ounces at a grade of 20.93 g/t Au. Meanwhile, four samples from the Anglo-Saxon Reef averaged 8.12 g/t Au.

Not bad eh? Well on top of that, the reconnaissance had also “discovered the Brilliant / Northumbria reef and its extensive gold workings, including an old open cut” ..according to CEO Craig Brown.

“This prospect area extends over a length of approximately 500m and is up to 80m wide and assays from 13 samples indicate widespread low-grade gold mineralisation.”

These results indicate that Timor may well follow on from the historical success of the Maryborough Goldfield.

Maryborough, which lies within the area covered by the Timor license, previously produced over 640,000 ounces of gold from hard-rock and alluvial sources, with 220,000 ounces mined from hard-rock operations at an average grade of 14g/t gold.

Northumbria Reef open cut

2) Avoca Exploration Underway

In addition to Timor, there was plenty of news forthcoming from ECR’s other Victoria sites. On the 14th of August the Company announced it had begun exploration at Henry’s Hill within the Avoca gold project license area.

The company now has active exploration works underway at four projects within the Victorian goldfields region, including Bailieston, Creswick, Timor and now Avoca.

“We are delighted to be highly active in the Victoria Goldfields region, at a time when the area is attracting considerable interest from larger companies and investors” commented Craig Brown.

Previously seven samples have been taken from the roadside reserve at Henry’s Hill, with three of these returning 5.1, 1.4 and 1.3 g/t gold.

With land access permission secured from the landowner and ever keen to keep the ball rolling, ECR will be commencing soil geochemistry and field mapping imminently.

3) Whole of bag testing results at Creswick:

Now for Creswick, the one we’ve all been waiting on. This is ECR’s strategic priority, with potential to be a multi-million ounce gold deposit.

Craig Brown and his team have been quick to try to progress the project and understand the impact of the nuggety nature of it’s gold deposits – conducting whole-of-bag testing in order to gain more representative results than from the original 2 kg assays.

Despite delays due to inclement weather at Victoria, ECR were happy to announce that work was underway and generating important results from the gravity and electrostatic concentration (GEC) of gold process, constructed under the guidance of the highly accredited resource geologist Keith Whitehouse.

GEC uses the dual processes of gravity and chargeability, which not only sounds rather impressive, but is capable of removing coarse, fine and ultrafine particles of gold from the RC samples.

According to Craig Brown.. “the results so far have demonstrated significant variability from the original assays, demonstrating that the small sample size can overstate and understate results.”

“Notably the original 44.63 g/t assay from the 2 kg sample from CSR006 (15-16 m) is increased to 63.03 g/t.”

To help support the process, ECR have appointed mining geologist and geometallurgist Dr Simon Dominy. With over 25 years’ experience Dr Dominy looks to be the man to help ECR evaluate their results, review the sampling process and guide future exploration & project development work at Creswick.

Gold sets record breaking highs

From a timing standpoint, ECR have hit the metaphorical bullseye considering the rapid rise in demand for safe-haven gold. Investors ploughed almost $5bn into the precious metal in August amid ongoing trade tensions and diminishing macroeconomic conditions, taking it to its highest level since April 2013.

Prices have remained high moving into September, with levels closing at US$1,551 a troy ounce on Wednesday the 4th of September. Analysts see no sign of prices dipping either.

Bloomberg Intelligence (BI) have said that US gold prices could be set for new record highs. Meanwhile Goldman Sachs upgraded its 6-month gold forecast at the beginning of August to $1,600 an ounce as trade tensions continue to escalate.

According to BI senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone:

“The dollar price of gold is on far more stable ground than it was about a decade ago. Some combination of sustained greenback strength and rapid stock-market appreciation should be necessary to suppress the metal’s price … Bottoming with the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate hike in 2015, the gold price appears to be situated for brighter days,” McGlone said in a September update.

Worsening economic data and the fast approaching Brexit deadline have also pushed the price of gold in British Pounds and Euros to new record highs.

The UK gold price in Pounds per ounce was up more than 50% from the eve of the UK’s vote to leave the EU back in June 2016, hitting £1279 on Tuesday the 3rd of September.

Time to Fillyaboots

All said, while ECR could be accused of being slightly trigger happy with their posts on Twitter, the reality is that the company have a lot to talk about.

As well as gold’s strength, with active exploration underway at four sites in Victoria and with nine exploration licences in the highly prospective Yilgarn region, ECR Minerals are certainly a company worth your attention if you’re looking to join the gold rush.

Each month the company continues to materially progress its projects, with August no exception. Timor’s high grade assay results give plenty of hope, putting a solid floor under the Company valuation, whilst recent exploration at Avoca demonstrates yet again that ECR are not resting on their laurels.

Finally, and of most importance thorough testing appears to be fully underway at Creswick, meaning ECR are moving ever closer to understanding the true value of their potential multi million ounce gold deposit. And with a market cap at just GBP3.5m, there has never been a better time to fillyaboots with this ambitious gold explorer.

By Harry Dacres-Dixon

Sources:

Gold Prices To Hit $1,575 In 3 Months, $1,600 In 6 Months – Goldman Sachs

Gold prices to pick off U.S. dollar high next – Bloomberg Intelligence

Investors pile into gold as trade conflict rumbles on

Gold Price Hits Fresh UK and Euro Highs as Brexit Rebels Fight No.10, German Factories Prepare for ‘No Deal’

ECR Minerals #ECR – High Grade Gold Assays – Timor Gold Project – Australia

ECR Minerals #ECR – Exploration Commences at Henry’s Hill – Avoca Gold Project – Australia

ECR Minerals plc (ECR) Progress Update – Creswick Gold Project Australia