REG - ECR Minerals PLC - £1.5 million placing & appointment of Joint Broker

ECR MineralsAnnouncement

08/01/2026 07:00

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RNS Number : 0767O  ECR Minerals PLC  08 January 2026

 

 

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IMPORTANT NOTICES AT THE END OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.

 

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF ARTICLE 7 OF
EU REGULATION 596/2014 (WHICH FORMS PART OF DOMESTIC UK LAW PURSUANT TO THE
EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018 ("EUWA")) ("UK MAR"). IN ADDITION, MARKET
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PUBLIC DOMAIN.

 

8 January 2026

 

ECR MINERALS PLC

 

("ECR Minerals", "ECR" or the "Company")

 

Placing to raise £1.5 million

and

Appointment of Joint Broker

 

Institutional support positions ECR for next stage of growth

 

ECR Minerals plc (LON: ECR), the gold exploration and development company
focused on Australia, announces that it has conditionally raised £1.5 million
(before expenses) by way of a placing with institutional and other investors
(the "Fundraising") for a total of 576,923,068 new ordinary shares of 0.001
pence each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") at a price of 0.26 pence per new
Ordinary Share (the "Issue Price").

 

The Fundraising marks an important milestone for ECR, providing the Company
with the capital strength to accelerate its production and exploration
strategy across Queensland and Victoria. With initial gold production at
Raglan expected this month and development underway at Blue Mountain, the
Board considers that ECR is now positioned to transition into a multi-project
gold producer and explorer.

 

The Directors intend that the majority of the net proceeds of the Fundraising
will be used to advance ECR's projects in Queensland and Victoria,
specifically:

 

·    Finalising preparations to bring the Blue Mountain gold project in
Queensland, Australia (the "Blue Mountain Project") into production to
generate revenue for the Company, including securing all necessary equipment
for production (noting that ECR expects some sharing of resources, and
therefore economies of operation, between its Blue Mountain Project and the
Raglan alluvial gold project in Queensland (the "Raglan Project")

 

·    Targeted exploration at the Lolworth Project, North Queensland,
Australia (the "Lolworth Project") where last year's maiden drilling campaign
produced notable shallow intercepts of gold and silver.  At a 900 km(2)
project area, the Lolworth Project is considered by the Board to represent a
potentially significant multi-metal opportunity for ECR

 

·    Developing the Company's partnership with the Geological Survey of
Queensland and James Cook University to further investigate the critical
minerals potential at the Lolworth Project

 

·    Advancing ECR's projects in Victoria, primarily at the Bailieston
Project area (the "Bailieston Project"), where previous drilling has indicated
the presence of gold at shallow depth and potentially high grade antimony

 

The Directors also intend to apply the net proceeds of the Fundraising towards
ECR's corporate and working capital purposes. Following completion of the
Fundraising, and taking account of its forthcoming production plans at the
Raglan and Blue Mountain Projects, the Board believes that ECR should be
funded for all currently planned activities until very significantly beyond
the end of 2026.

 

In the medium to longer term, the Directors believe that the cashflow
potential from gold production from the Raglan Project, once that project is
fully operational, has the potential to cover all of the Company's overheads
and bringing Blue Mountain into production has the potential to support ECR's
currently contemplated future exploration and development operations.

Details of the Fundraising

The Company has conditionally raised £1.5 million (before expenses) through
the Fundraising for a total of 576,923,068 new Ordinary Shares at the Issue
Price.  The new Ordinary Shares will be issued on a non-pre-emptive basis
pursuant to the authorities granted to the Board at the Company's annual
general meeting held on 23 April 2025.

 

The new Ordinary Shares, when issued and fully paid, will rank pari passu in
all respects with the existing Ordinary Shares in issue and therefore will
rank equally for all dividends or other distributions declared, made or paid
after the issue of the new Ordinary Shares.

 

The Issue Price represents a discount of approximately 22 per cent. to the
closing middle market price of 0.335 pence per Ordinary Share on 7 January
2026, being the latest business day prior to the announcement of the
Fundraising.

 

OAK Securities ("OAK Securities") acted as the Company's broker in connection
with the Fundraising.

 

Joint Broker Appointment and Broker Warrants

 

The Company is also pleased to announce that OAK Securities has been appointed
as a Joint Broker to the Company with immediate effect. OAK Securities has
agreed that its fees for the first year of its appointment as Joint Broker
will be payable by the Company in 23,076,923 new Ordinary Shares at the Issue
Price, which are to be issued upon Admission (as defined below).

 

In connection with the Fundraising, the Company will issue, on completion of
the Fundraise, 42,307,692 warrants to OAK Securities (the "Broker Warrants").
Each Broker Warrant entitles the holder to acquire one new Ordinary Share
exercisable at the Issue Price. OAK Securities has agreed that the Broker
Warrants will not be exercised for at least six months. Thereafter the Broker
Warrants are exercisable at any time until the third year anniversary of
Admission. The Broker Warrants will not be tradeable, transferable nor
CREST-enabled.

 

Admission and Total Voting Rights

 

An application will be made to London Stock Exchange plc ("London Stock
Exchange") for the 599,999,991 new Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading
on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange ("Admission") and it is
currently anticipated that Admission will become effective, and that dealings
in the new Ordinary Shares will commence on AIM, at 8.00 a.m. on or around 15
January 2026. Completion of the Fundraising is conditional on Admission.

 

Upon Admission, the Company's issued ordinary share capital will consist of
3,290,888,016 Ordinary Shares with one voting right each. The Company does not
hold any Ordinary Shares in treasury. Therefore, from Admission the total
number of Ordinary Shares and voting rights in the Company will be
3,290,888,016. With effect from Admission, this figure may be used by
shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which
they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a
change to their interest in, the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance
and Transparency Rules.

 

Nick Tulloch, ECR's Chairman, commented: "Today's £1.5 million Fundraising is
a major step forward for ECR and we are delighted by the backing received from
institutional investors. This support reflects confidence in both our strategy
and our progress as we establish ECR as a multi-site gold company.

 

"Our immediate focus is on near-term production. At the Raglan Project, with
an operating team now secured, the Board expects initial gold this month. The
Blue Mountain Project, which represents a significantly larger opportunity,
continues to validate its commercial potential following last year's drilling
and wash-plant work, and we are advancing our preparations for development.

 

"At the same time, we remain committed to unlocking the considerable
exploration upside across our broader portfolio - including at the Lolworth
Project, which we consider has significant multi-metal potential, and our
Victorian projects where our work to date indicates shallow gold and
high-grade antimony mineralisation offering further opportunities.

 

"With this Fundraising, our strong project pipeline and A$76 million of tax
losses available to offset future production profits, we consider that ECR is
now well-capitalised and positioned to develop into a significant mining and
exploration company in 2026 and beyond."

 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

 

 ECR Minerals Plc                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Tel: +44 (0) 20 8080 8176
 Nick Tulloch, Chairman                                                                                                                                                                                                                             info@ecrminerals.com (mailto:info@ecrminerals.com)

 Andrew Scott, Director

 Website: www.ecrminerals.com
 (http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ecrminerals.com%2F&esheet=51817334&newsitemid=20180605005810&lan=en-US&anchor=www.ecrminerals.com&index=1&md5=820ad49dc1fc2c84a0538453c017bc1b)

 Allenby Capital Limited                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Tel: +44 (0) 3328 5656
 Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker                                                                                                                                                                                                                 info@allenbycapital.com (mailto:info@allenbycapital.com)

 Alex Brearley / Nick Naylor / Vivek Bhardwaj (Corporate Finance)

 Kelly Gardiner (Sales and Corporate Broking)

 OAK Securities                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Tel: +44 (0) 203 973 3678
 Joint Broker
 Jerry Keen / Robert Bell

 Axis Capital Markets Limited                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Tel: +44 (0) 203 026 0320
 Joint Broker
 Lewis Jones

 SI Capital Ltd                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Tel: +44 (0) 1483 413500
 Joint Broker
 Nick Emerson

 Brand Communications                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Tel: +44 (0) 7976 431608
 Public & Investor Relations
 Alan Green

 

ABOUT ECR MINERALS PLC

 

ECR Minerals is a mineral exploration and development company operating
through three wholly owned Australian subsidiaries ECR Minerals (Australia)
Pty Ltd ("ECR Australia"), ECR Minerals (Queensland) Pty Ltd ("ECR
Queensland") and Raglan Resources Pty Ltd ("Raglan Resources").

 

ECR Australia owns the Bailieston and Creswick gold projects in central
Victoria, Australia as well as the Tambo gold project in eastern Victoria.

 

Raglan Resources has a mining lease at the Raglan alluvial gold project in
central Queensland, Australia and ECR Queensland has two approved exploration
permits over the nearby Blue Mountain alluvial gold project.  ECR is
currently working to bring both projects into production.  ECR Queensland
also has three approved exploration permits covering 946 km(2) over a
relatively unexplored area in Lolworth Range in northern Queensland.
Furthermore, it has also submitted a licence application at Kondaparinga which
is approximately 120km(2) in area and located within the Hodgkinson Gold
Province, 80km NW of Mareeba, North Queensland.

 

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), ECR Australia has the right to receive up to A$2 million in
payments subject to future resource estimation or production from these
projects.

 

ECR Australia also has approximately A$76 million of unutilised tax losses
incurred during previous operations.

 

This announcement is made in accordance with the Company's obligations under
Article 17 of UK MAR and the person responsible for arranging for the release
of this announcement on behalf of ECR is Nick Tulloch, Chairman.

 

IMPORTANT NOTICES

 

Forward Looking Statements

 

This announcement includes statements that are, or may be deemed to be,
"forward-looking statements". These forward-looking statements can be
identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms
"believes", "estimates", "plans", "anticipates", "targets", "aims",
"continues", "expects", "intends", "hopes", "may", "will", "would", "could" or
"should" or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable
terminology. These forward-looking statements include matters that are not
facts. They appear in a number of places throughout this announcement and
include statements regarding the Directors' beliefs or current expectations.
By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty
because they relate to future events and circumstances. Investors should not
place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the
date of this announcement.

 

Notice to overseas persons

 

This announcement does not constitute, or form part of, a prospectus relating
to the Company, nor does it constitute or contain any invitation or offer to
any person, or any public offer, to subscribe for, purchase or otherwise
acquire any shares in the Company or advise persons to do so in any
jurisdiction, nor shall it, or any part of it form the basis of or be relied
on in connection with any contract or as an inducement to enter into any
contract or commitment with the Company.

 

This announcement is not for release, publication or distribution, in whole or
in part, directly or indirectly, in or into Australia, Canada, Japan or the
Republic of South Africa or any jurisdiction into which the publication or
distribution would be unlawful. This announcement is for information purposes
only and does not constitute an offer to sell or issue or the solicitation of
an offer to buy or acquire shares in the capital of the Company in Australia,
Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of South Africa or any jurisdiction
in which such offer or solicitation would be unlawful or require preparation
of any prospectus or other offer documentation or would be unlawful prior to
registration, exemption from registration or qualification under the
securities laws of any such jurisdiction.  Persons into whose possession this
announcement comes are required by the Company to inform themselves about, and
to observe, such restrictions.

 

This announcement is not for publication or distribution, directly or
indirectly, in or into the United States of America.  This announcement is
not an offer of securities for sale into the United States.  The securities
referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the U.S.
Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the
United States, except pursuant to an applicable exemption from registration.
No public offering of securities is being made in the United States.

 

General

 

Neither the content of the Company's website (or any other website) nor the
content of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Company's website (or
any other website) or any previous announcement made by the Company is
incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.

 

Allenby Capital, which is authorised and regulated by the FCA in the United
Kingdom, is acting as nominated adviser to the Company in connection with the
Fundraising. Allenby Capital will not be responsible to any person other than
the Company for providing the protections afforded to clients of Allenby
Capital or for providing advice to any other person in connection with the
Fundraising.  Allenby Capital has not authorised the contents of, or any part
of, this announcement, and no liability whatsoever is accepted by Allenby
Capital for the accuracy of any information or opinions contained in this
announcement or for the omission of any material information.

 

OAK Securities (a trading name of Merlin Partners LLP) which is authorised and
regulated by the FCA in the United Kingdom, is acting as broker to the Company
in connection with the Fundraising. OAK Securities will not be responsible to
any person other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to
clients of OAK Securities or for providing advice to any other person in
connection with the Fundraising. OAK Securities has not authorised the
contents of, or any part of, this announcement, and no liability whatsoever is
accepted by OAK Securities for the accuracy of any information or opinions
contained in this announcement or for the omission of any material
information.

 

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