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USD28tn COVID bill keeps the Gold bull case intact for ECR Minerals #ECR and the new Victoria Gold rush.
In October 2020 IMF economic counselor *Gita Gopinath described coronavirus as the worst crisis since the Great Depression, adding that the pandemic would leave deep and enduring scars from job losses, weaker investment and children being deprived of education.
In its flagship world economic outlook, the IMF said stronger than expected Q2 and Q3 performances would see global output fall by 4.4% in 2020 compared with the 5.2% drop forecast during the summer.
The groundbreaking news of a vaccine with high efficacy rates from both Pfizer and Moderna triggered strong rallies in global stock markets, and while this led to a downward correction in the gold price, most market analysts remained bullish on gold over the longer term.
US Investment Group Energy & Capital are of the view that gold remains in a bull market super cycle. Energy & Capital editor, Gold bug, and investment analyst Luke Burgess said “The historic gold run of 2011 actually began in 2001, when gold was trading around $300 per ounce.”
“The same exact gold super-cycle happened in 1971–1980, when gold ran from $50 per ounce to almost $700,” Burgess added. “The value of the U.S. dollar is being weakened every day and there is nothing that the Federal Reserve or politicians can do to stop it. This will continue to have a tremendous effect on gold prices and the gold market in general.”
Energy & Capital are ultra bullish in outlook, with a $6500oz target price for the yellow metal within 2 years. While other commentators are more circumspect, the view on the longer-term trend is clear.**
“It is worth recalling that the driver of investment flows into precious metals has ultimately been sourced from a powerful impulse lower in real rates,” TD Securities said in a note.
“The U.S. Federal Reserve’s continued attempt to spark higher inflation expectations should suppress real rates deeper into negative territory. This will continue to drive investment appetite for precious metals, as capital seeks to shelter itself from increasingly negative real rates.”
Junior Gold Miners Flourish
It has been an extraordinary year for junior gold miners. Despite the recent gold correction to $1860oz, global gold producers are under more pressure than ever to replace their depleting reserves. The major gold producing conglomerates face declines in production, shrinking reserves and a potential increase in production costs, which means it is cheaper (and faster) for these companies to buy developed or developing gold projects.
As a result, there has been a rush to develop and fast track quality assets, which for some junior miners has meant revisiting dormant mining projects. The latest tools, survey techniques and desktop assets available to mining engineers have proved invaluable in the search for precious metals within existing dormant assets and mines around the world.
As gold prospecting continues apace in far flung and remote areas, this year has seen the goldfields in Victoria, South Australia thrust into the limelight once again.
A major mining centre since the 19th century gold rush, modern technology has today has paved the way for another gold rush in the region.
Indeed the Geological Survey of Victoria estimates that some 75 million ounces of high-grade gold is currently awaiting discovery, and with grants available to mining companies operating in the region, it is no exaggeration to say that companies are literally queuing up for licenses.
As an incumbent operator owning some of the most fertile territory in Victoria, London listed ECR Minerals (LSE: ECR) is already at the front of the queue, with its 100% owned Bailieston and Creswick Victoria gold projects, plus the recently acquired Tambo Gold project.
ECR also has financial interests in the Avoca, Moormbool and Timor projects following the sale of those licenses to Fosterville South Exploration Ltd (TSX.V:FSX), raising $500,000 plus $1 for every ounce of gold discovered. ECR also has interests in projects in the Philippines and Argentina.
Creswick
Creswick is situated within the Dimocks Main Shale, a geological feature considered to be highly prospective for gold, and which extends to the Ballarat gold mine centre and further south. ECR’s exploration licenses cover approximately 7km of this region, and along with several other mining companies with licenses in the region, has applied for a further license covering a further 140 sq km between Creswick and Ballarat.
A recent study by pre-eminent consulting geochemist Dr Dennis Arne, whose experience includes extensive consultancy at the Fosterville mine, (now the largest gold producer in Victoria), underlined the significant gold exploration potential at Creswick, and ‘nuggety gold mineralisation’. Joint venture / earn-in talks are continuing at Creswick.
Bailieston
Bailieston is also at the centre of the current gold exploration boom in Victoria, sited as it is a few km east of the world class Fosterville mine. Fosterville has delivered spectacular investment returns over recent years for owner Kirkland Lake Gold, not to mention some of it’s now millionaire shareholders.
The Bailieston license areas include a raft of prospects, including HR3, Black Cat, Cherry Tree, Red Moon and Yellow Moon, and with drilling permissions now received, the company reported last Friday that its newly acquired drilling rig will shortly be en route to the HR3 prospect from ECR’s new operational base at Bendigo. Work also continues apace at the Cherry Tree prospect, with soil geochemistry and geological mapping recently completed.
ECR’s Baillieston project also has a high profile neighbour in the form of mining giant Newmont, which has a license application in for ground immediately to the north of ECR’s Black Cat prospect.
Tambo Gold Project – Local Knowledge
One of the key advantages lies in the fact that ECR’s principal geologist Dr Rodney Boucher was born and raised in Bruthen, East Victoria, and therefore has an intimate knowledge of the region. In September 2020, this area knowledge was further employed by ECR when it lodged two new license applications for the new Tambo gold project in eastern Victoria. ECR CEO Craig Brown highlighted Dr Boucher’s knowledge in the stock exchange press release.
“Good quality exploration ground available for direct application is very difficult to find in Victoria, so we are very pleased to have identified and applied for the Tambo project, which covers a sizeable area of prospective geology near historic goldfields and has received little contemporary exploration.”
Brown added “Our principal geologist, Dr Rod Boucher, was born and raised nearby in Bruthen. He grew up gold prospecting with his father throughout the application areas and has an in-depth knowledge of the gold potential in the small streams and gullies. He is a descendant of gold miners from a locality once known as Boucher Town between Cassilis and Swifts Creek and completed his third-year undergraduate thesis on the geology of the Tambo Crossing area.”
Untapped Potential
There is a sense that despite the rush of license applications in the region, the current day Victoria gold rush is still very much in its infancy.
As other leading mining companies, including Newmont Corporation (NYSE: NEM), Power Metal Resources (LSE:POW), Red Rock Resources (LSE:RRR), Fosterville South and a host of other smaller mining groups queue for licenses, their respective CEO’s will no doubt be harbouring ambitions for a Kirkland Gold–esque share price explosion. Indeed, Kirkland’s share price has rocketed over 2,200% in the past few years thanks to its ownership of the Fosterville Gold Mine and a 315% jump in annual gold production between 2014 and 2018 .
Despite movement restrictions in the Victoria region due to Covid-19, the foresight of the ECR board and CEO in securing the key licenses has not been lost on investors.
Following a further £600,000 fundraise in July, and further £400,000 from warrant exercises, ECR took the decision to acquire it’s own diamond drilling rig to press on with exploration Bailieston and Creswick. Investor bulletin boards are agog with anticipation, but despite the share price having nearly trebled between June and September 2020, in November the stock still trades on a ridiculously modest £13m market cap.
If, as all the pundits seem to be saying, we are at the start of a new Victoria Gold rush, then expectations that shares in small, incumbent explorers like ECR will deliver spectacular Kirkland-style increases in value may not be so far fetched after all.
*Source The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/oct/13/imf-covid-cost-world-economic-outlook
**Source Reuters:
ECR Minerals #ECR – Further information on New Gold Targets at Blue Moon, Victoria region, Australia
ECR Minerals plc (LON:ECR) the precious metals exploration and development company is pleased to provide a further update in respect of the Blue Moon gold project in Victoria Region, Australia.
On 3 September 2018 the Company announced the identification of a significant gold target at the Blue Moon prospect and the addition of two new gold targets in the same area as Blue Moon, now named Yellow Moon and Red Moon.
The Company’s technical advisory team have prepared a diagrammatic image of the three target areas and this is now available on the Company’s website through the following link: https://bit.ly/2ChsS3f
The image demonstrates:
- that the area is principally flat and alluvial cover, demonstrated as blue in the image;
- anomalous arsenic results were returned from pXRF soil geochemistry conducted on the slopes and over small hills;
- the association of the anomalous arsenic at all three ‘Moon’ prospects with broad areas of quartz float;
- the location of the Bailieston Anticline to the east of Yellow Moon and as shown on government mapping plus a newly identified anticline, named the New Moon Anticline. The anticline is a double fold to the west of Red Moon.
Craig Brown, Chief Executive Officer of ECR Minerals plc, commented: “I am pleased at the level of interest demonstrated in the new targets outlined in our earlier announcement, particularly enquiries from a technical perspective. The publication of this image provides further important technical information to the market about the project and its potential. The team are working proactively to advance our entire Victoria region interests, with a particular interest at Blue Moon given the findings to date. Further information will be provided to the market in respect of Blue Moon and our work across the Company at the earliest opportunity.”
COMPETENT PERSON STATEMENT
The information in this announcement that relates to Exploration Results is based on information compiled by Dr Rodney Boucher of Linex Pty Ltd. Linex Pty Ltd provides geological services to Mercator Gold Australia Pty Ltd, including the services of Dr Boucher, who has a PhD in geology, is a Member and RPGeo of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Dr Boucher has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the ‘Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves’. Dr Boucher consents to the inclusion in the announcement of the material based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.
ABOUT ECR MINERALS PLC
ECR is a mineral exploration and development company. ECR’s wholly owned Australian subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia has 100% ownership of the Avoca, Bailieston, Creswick, Moormbool and Timor gold exploration licences in central Victoria, Australia.
ECR has earned a 25% interest in the Danglay epithermal gold project, an advanced exploration project located in a prolific gold and copper mining district in the north of the Philippines. An NI43-101 technical report was completed in respect of the Danglay project in December 2015 and is available for download from ECR’s website.
ECR’s wholly owned Argentine subsidiary Ochre Mining has 100% ownership of the SLM gold project in La Rioja, Argentina. Exploration at SLM has focused on identifying small tonnage mesothermal gold deposits which may be suitable for relatively near-term production.
MARKET ABUSE REGULATIONS (EU) No. 596/2014
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 (MAR). Upon the publication of this announcement via Regulatory Information Service (RIS), this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
| ECR Minerals plc | Tel: +44 (0)20 7929 1010 | |
| David Tang, Non-Executive Chairman | ||
| Craig Brown, Director & CEO | ||
|
Email: |
||
| Website: www.ecrminerals.com | ||
| WH Ireland Ltd | Tel: +44 (0)161 832 2174 | |
| Nominated Adviser | ||
|
Katy Mitchell/James Sinclair-Ford |
||
| Optiva Securities Ltd | Tel: +44 (0)203 137 1902 | |
| Broker | ||
| Graeme Dickson | ||
| SI Capital Ltd | Tel: +44 (0)1483 413500 | |
| Broker | ||
| Nick Emerson |
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.
ECR Minerals #ECR – New Gold Targets identified at Blue Moon, Australia
ECR Minerals plc (LON:ECR) the precious metals exploration and development company is pleased to provide an update in respect of the Blue Moon gold project in Victoria Region, Australia.
Blue Moon – significant gold target identified below near surface mineralised oxide zone
On 6 July 2018 the Company announced a significant near surface gold system had been identified in drilling at Blue Moon and this led to a thorough review of the Blue Moon gold target by the Company’s technical team, the results of which are outlined below.
The gold grade identified near surface was modest, but the key objective of the previous drilling campaign was to confirm the presence of gold mineralisation which was achieved successfully. With gold mineralisation confirmed the work commenced to investigate the geological system enabling the Company to target future drilling seeking higher grade mineralisation, potentially of a type similar to the nearby million ounce Fosterville mine.
Upon review of the findings the Company has identified that there has been considerable leaching of the veinlets containing gold in the Blue Moon sandstone in the oxide zone near surface. If the leached materials are gold bearing sulphides, the Company believe there is potential for significantly higher grades by drilling below the oxide zone, where the significant near surface gold system was identified from the previous drill programme.
The conclusion of the technical review is that, given the significant near surface and extensive gold system identified to date and evidence of near surface leaching, there exists potential for a significant gold discovery with deeper drilling. As a result the Company expects to undertake deeper reverse circulation drilling in the coming months, subject to conclusion of land access agreements.
Two new gold targets confirmed in addition to the Blue Moon target
In addition to the work undertaken at Blue Moon the Company has undertaken field mapping and soil geochemical sampling over unexplored areas to the north and northwest of Blue Moon.
This work programme has identified two new gold prospective targets which share similar geochemistry to that confirmed at Blue Moon, notably large areas of quartz float with anomalous arsenic of similar magnitude.
The two new targets have been named Red Moon and Yellow Moon and will now be subject to further geochemical analysis to identify the extent of each anomaly and to determine a follow up work programme for each target as appropriate.
Craig Brown, Chief Executive Officer of ECR Minerals plc, commented: “I am delighted with the progress our technical team have made with the review of Blue Moon. It is evident that the Blue Moon target offers an opportunity to discover a significant gold deposit and that will be our prime objective in the forthcoming drill campaign.
Furthermore, the addition of two new targets at Red Moon and Yellow Moon is extremely exciting for the technical team and the Company. The multiple gold targets identified to date support the rationale of the Company in securing the Bailieston licence with the overall objective being the discovery of a significant and economic gold deposit.
Alongside our work in Victoria, Australia, we are actively pursuing other initiatives in Australia including the completion of due diligence in respect of the “Iceberg” project, an option over which was announced to the market on 15 August 2018.
I look forward to providing further Australian development updates.”
COMPETENT PERSON STATEMENT
The information in this announcement that relates to Exploration Results is based on information compiled by Dr Rodney Boucher of Linex Pty Ltd. Linex Pty Ltd provides geological services to Mercator Gold Australia Pty Ltd, including the services of Dr Boucher, who has a PhD in geology, is a Member and RPGeo of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Dr Boucher has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the ‘Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves’. Dr Boucher consents to the inclusion in the announcement of the material based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.
ABOUT ECR MINERALS PLC
ECR is a mineral exploration and development company. ECR’s wholly owned Australian subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia has 100% ownership of the Avoca, Bailieston, Creswick, Moormbool and Timor gold exploration licences in central Victoria, Australia.
ECR has earned a 25% interest in the Danglay epithermal gold project, an advanced exploration project located in a prolific gold and copper mining district in the north of the Philippines. An NI43-101 technical report was completed in respect of the Danglay project in December 2015 and is available for download from ECR’s website.
ECR’s wholly owned Argentine subsidiary Ochre Mining has 100% ownership of the SLM gold project in La Rioja, Argentina. Exploration at SLM has focused on identifying small tonnage mesothermal gold deposits which may be suitable for relatively near-term production.
MARKET ABUSE REGULATIONS (EU) No. 596/2014
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 (MAR). Upon the publication of this announcement via Regulatory Information Service (RIS), this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
| ECR Minerals plc | Tel: +44 (0)20 7929 1010 | |
|
David Tang, Non-Executive Chairman |
||
| Craig Brown, Director & CEO | ||
|
Email: |
||
| Website: www.ecrminerals.com | ||
| WH Ireland Ltd | Tel: +44 (0)161 832 2174 | |
| Nominated Adviser | ||
| Katy Mitchell/James Sinclair-Ford | ||
| Optiva Securities Ltd | Tel: +44 (0)203 137 1902 | |
| Broker | ||
| Graeme Dickson | ||
| SI Capital Ltd | Tel: +44 (0)1483 413500 | |
| Broker | ||
| Nick Emerson |
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.