REG-ECR Minerals plc Progress Update – Gold Nugget Test Programme Creswick Gold Project - Australia

ECR MineralsAnnouncement

11/06/2019 15:20

      Progress Update – Gold Nugget Test Programme Creswick Gold Project - 
      Australia
    

    

      11 June 2019
    

      ECR MINERALS plc
    

      (“ECR Minerals”, “ECR” or the “Company”)
    

      Progress Update – Gold Nugget Test Programme
    

      Creswick Gold Project - Australia
    

      ECR Minerals plc (LON:ECR), the precious metals exploration and 
      development company, is pleased to provide an update in respect of the 
      Company’s follow on gold nugget test programme at the Company’s Creswick 
      Project in Victoria, Australia. The test programme has been designed by 
      ECR, in conjunction with its advisers.
    

      Readers are also advised to review the Company’s previous announcement 
      dated 8 May 2019 which outlined the presence of a nuggetty gold system 
      at Creswick, and this may be viewed through the following link:
    

      https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/ecr_minerals_plc/news/rns/story/wk5e8vw
    

      Highlights:
    

      

        ECR’s technical team, in conjunction with advice from tendering 
        laboratories, have devised a structured approach to systematically 
        test zones in and around the 640 sample bags (each close to 30 kg) 
        containing quartz collected from the recent reverse circulation 
        drilling campaign at the Creswick Gold Project;
      
      

        An initial trial selection process will utilise a metal detector to 
        prioritise bags with a metallic signal. This is anticipated to 
        expedite the sample selection from the large number of bags to send 
        for full testing;
      
      

        Metal detecting is now underway and a number of bags have tested 
        positive for metal content and have been removed from site for 
        “whole-of-bag” testing. A testing process is being finalised with a 
        preferred laboratory;
      
      

        Full laboratory analysis will require multiple steps including 
        sieving, detecting, gold particle analysis, gravity concentration and 
        assaying to determine the size distribution and grade of the coarse 
        and fine gold within the sample;
      
      

        ECR will communicate the results of the testing process within an 
        initial update expected in the near term and further interim updates 
        as the whole of bag testing process continues.
      
    

      Craig Brown, Chief Executive Officer commented: “I am 
      extremely pleased with the professionalism of the Company’s technical 
      team in devising the structured approach to bag testing that has been 
      developed. Creswick is a unique project and the assessment of in-situ 
      gold mineralisation requires bespoke project management and technical 
      application.
    

      I am delighted that our first metal detecting of bags has already 
      highlighted metal content, which we expect is reflective of nugget gold 
      mineralisation as samples from depth are unlikely to contain other 
      detectable metals.
    

      Our internal modelling suggests the Dimocks Main Shale is large enough 
      to potentially host a multi-million ounce gold deposit at Creswick and 
      therefore ECR are allocating resources to this project in a prioritised 
      manner whilst continuing to develop our other Australian gold projects 
      in parallel.”
    

      Background:
    

      Within its previous exploration work and as announced by the Company on 
      8 May 2019 ECR hypothesised an extreme nuggetty distribution of gold 
      based on observations and results, including capturing a small 0.27 g 
      nugget in gravity tests conducted on a single sample bag. This means 
      that gold is not evenly distributed in bags of drilling samples.
    

      The Company previously assayed 2 kg samples from a 30 kg bag which is 
      industry practice but too small a sample for extreme nuggetty 
      distribution. There was a significant likelihood that coarse gold could 
      be excluded from the sample.
    

      This meant that assays samples could be understated for gold and this 
      was demonstrated in one bag test where the assay from a 2 kg sample 
      reported gold of 1.88g/t whereas the 30kg whole of bag sample test 
      showed the bag actually contained a substantially higher 11.8g/t. 
      Alternatively, a single assayed nugget will overstate the average from a 
      2 kg sample.
    

      Based on the size of the previously recovered 0.27 g nugget, an ideal 
      sample size could be approximately 5,000 kg. A 30 kg bag is 0.6% of this 
      size and not large enough to be considered a representative sample, but 
      a fifteen-fold improvement on 2 kg samples. There remains a high chance 
      the full bag tests will not capture the nuggets. However, the greater 
      number of full bag tests will increase the likelihood of including 
      nuggets.
    

      “Whole-of-bag” testing methodology
    

      Following discussions with its technical team ECR concluded it should 
      move into a process of “whole-of-bag” testing to determine the full 
      extent of the gold within the reverse circulation samples. This is a 
      sizeable exercise. Of the 1687 m drilled, 640 bags of close to 30 kg 
      each contain quartz and these bags plus the surrounding bags will be 
      tested.
    

      In order to achieve the above objectives the Company’s technical team, 
      in association with external consultants including laboratories capable 
      of undertaking the whole of bag sample work, have considered numerous 
      approaches to the testing process. This involved visits by ECR to the 
      laboratories and consideration of various testing pathways and 
      associated record keeping and process validation.
    

      Analysis will test the primary hypothesis that gold is coarse but a 
      program is being designed to additionally check for fine gold within the 
      bags to assess the size distribution of the particles.
    

      After due consideration of all factors and a range of practical tests, 
      the Company is finalising a testing procedure at a suitable laboratory 
      which is likely to follow the steps below:
    

      1. Initial metal detector scanning of bags to prioritise bags to send to 
      the lab for full testing. The Company considers that nuggets large 
      enough to significantly impact the nugget effect will be able to be 
      located with a metal detector. This will save the company the cost of 
      testing all bags. A series of bags with no signal will be collected for 
      analysis of the finer gold fraction, especially if the main set of bags 
      show a significant fine gold component;
    

      2. Secure transfer of bags testing positive for metal content to the 
      laboratory for whole of bag testing;
    

      3. Under laboratory conditions sensitive metal detector scanning of the 
      coarse sieved (>0.85 mm) fraction of the bags is undertaken and the 
      source of the signal removed, examined, logged, photographed and 
      weighed. The entire coarse sample will then be assayed to calculate the 
      total coarse gold from the bag;
    

      4. The fine sieved fraction (<0.85 mm) will be gravity concentrated and 
      this concentrate plus all of tails assayed for gravity recoverable and 
      total gold. Following this step, all of the contents of the original bag 
      would have been assayed;
    

      5. The total gold content for each size fraction of each whole tested 
      bag is calculated.
    

      Initial findings from first batch of bags tested
    

      After establishing the above testing protocol, the Company’s technical 
      team have commenced initial metal detection of the bags as outlined by 
      step one above
    

      During the first phase of metal detection work a number of bags have 
      generated a positive signal from the metal detector. These bags have 
      been secured for transport to the laboratory for whole of bag testing 
      under laboratory conditions.
    

      Further metal detection tests are continuing and additional bags testing 
      positive for metal will be securely transferred to the laboratory for 
      whole of bag examination.
    

      Whilst it is not certain that the tested bags contain gold, or as to 
      what grade of mineralisation exists, and whether this is elevated grade 
      against previous bag assay samples, the Company’s technical team 
      consider the number of bags responding to date is very positive and the 
      Company looks forward to receiving the “whole-of-bag” gold data from the 
      early bags selected for laboratory analysis.
    

      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 Australasian 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.
    

      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:

          

             
          
          

            info@ecrminerals.com
          
        
        

        
        

        
      
      

        

          Website: www.ecrminerals.com
        
        

        
        

        
      
      

        

        
        

        
        

           
        
      
      

        

          WH Ireland Ltd
        
        

        
        

          Tel: +44 (0)161 832 2174
        
      
      

        

          Nominated Adviser
        
        

        
        

        
      
      

        

          Katy Mitchell/James Sinclair-Ford
        
        

        
        

        
      
      

        

        
        

        
        

           
        
      
      

        

          SI Capital Ltd
        
        

        
        

          Tel: +44 (0)1483 413500
        
      
      

        

          Broker
        
        

        
        

        
      
      

        

          Nick Emerson
        
        

        
        

        
      
    

      ABOUT ECR MINERALS PLC
    

      ECR is a mineral exploration and development company. ECR’s wholly owned 
      Australian subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia Pty Limited has 100% 
      ownership of the Avoca, Bailieston, Creswick, Moormbool and Timor gold 
      exploration licences in central Victoria, Australia and the Windidda 
      Gold Project in the Yilgarn Region, Western 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.
    

    
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      ECR Minerals plc