REG - ECR Minerals PLC - Bitcoin & Digital Asset Treasury Management Policy

ECR MineralsAnnouncement

07/08/2025 07:00

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RNS Number : 2948U  ECR Minerals PLC  07 August 2025

 

 

7 August 2025

 

ECR MINERALS PLC

 

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

 

Adoption of Bitcoin and Digital Asset Treasury Management Policy

 

ECR Minerals plc (LON: ECR), the exploration and development company focused
on gold in Australia, is pleased to announce that its board of directors (the
"Board" or the "Directors") have adopted a Bitcoin ("BTC") and Digital Asset
Treasury Management Policy (the "Policy").

 

The adoption of the Policy reflects ECR's evolving long-term financial
strategy, given ECR's ambition to work towards a potential revenue-generating
phase, particularly at its Blue Mountain gold project in Queensland (the "Blue
Mountain Project"). As noted in the Company's announcement on 8 October 2024,
the Board considers that the Blue Mountain Project may be a viable commercial
gold resource.

 

Using the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, ECR Digital Limited ("ECR
Digital"), ECR will hold a portion of its treasury reserves in digital assets,
such as BTC or select high tier alternative digital coins, as either a partial
hedge against fluctuations in gold prices or as a standalone store of value,
which the Board views as effectively functioning as a modern form of digital
inventory.

 

Furthermore, as a UK headquartered company with Australian-based operations,
the Board views currency management a core part of the Company's financial
planning. In this regard, the Board believes that digital assets such as
Bitcoin provides flexibility as a cross-border transactional currency.

 

Key terms of the Policy:

 

·    Use of BTC for treasury management purposes: The Board intends to
invest no more than 50 per cent. of its free cash flows from gold
production(1) to acquire BTC as a long-term treasury reserve. The Policy also
provides that no more than 50 per cent. of surplus cash(2) held by the Company
may be used for BTC purchases. No speculative or leveraged trading of BTC or
other digital assets is permitted, and the Company will not engage in
derivatives or leveraged products that deviate from the goal of long-term
asset holding.

 

·   Custody and security: The Company will appoint a regulated custodian
which is either registered by the Financial Conduct Authority (the "FCA") or
regulated in its country of operation and the Policy prescribes a series of
security protocols including mandatory storage in multi-signature wallets
requiring at least two Board-approved signatories and the use of offline cold
storage to minimise cyber risks.

 

·    Approved investment instruments: The only approved instrument,
investment or asset which the Company may hold, other than cash, is BTC.
However, the Policy does give the Board discretion to select a list of high
tier alternative digital assets which may comprise up to 15 per cent. of its
available 50 per cent. treasury allocation headroom provided that such assets
are capable of generating a yield (for example, Ethereum). Any yield generated
must then be utilised to acquire additional BTC or other Board approved high
tier alternative digital assets taking into account the Company's available 50
per cent. treasury allocation headroom.

 

·   Supervision, responsibilities and control framework: The Company will
appoint a treasury committee, comprising at least one non-executive director,
the financial controller and the chairman, who will be responsible for
administering and reviewing adherence to the Policy on a quarterly basis.

 

The full Policy is available on the Company's investor relations website at:
https://ecrminerals.com/investors/aim-rule-26/
(https://ecrminerals.com/investors/aim-rule-26/) .

 

Risks associated with the Policy:

 

While the Board recognises that the acquisition of digital assets, including
BTC, may provide benefits (as outlined above), it also acknowledges the
inherent risks associated with such assets. Digital assets, including BTC, are
highly volatile as well as speculative in nature and are subject to
significant price fluctuations. In addition, it should be noted that a growing
number of publicly traded companies have adopted digital asset focused
treasury strategies, and this has sometimes resulted in significant volatility
in their share price and a dislocation between their market capitalisation and
the underlying value of their assets. Consequently, exposure to digital assets
such as BTC may, in turn, amongst other matters, compound and increase the
volatility of the Company's share price.

 

To mitigate these risks, the Company intends to allocate no more than 50 per
cent. of its free cash flow from gold production operations(1) and surplus
cash(2) held by the Company towards principally the acquisition and holding of
BTC, the most liquid digital asset, into treasury.

 

The Board also acknowledges that the regulatory environment for digital assets
remains uncertain and subject to change. This may impact the Company's ability
to hold or transact in digital assets, including BTC. There are also risks
associated with custody, security, and the accounting treatment of digital
assets, any of which may have a material adverse effect on the Company's
operations and investor returns.

 

The Company confirms that the implementation of the Policy does not alter its
status under UK financial services law, including the Alterative Investment
Fund Managers Regulations 2013.  The Policy is a treasury management
initiative only and does not constitute a collective investment undertaking or
alternative investment fund. Similarly, the Policy represents a financial
strategy decision and does not alter, the Company's core business operations
as an exploration and development company focused on gold in Australia. The
adoption of the Policy is not intended to result in the Company becoming or
being seen as an investing company.

 

Nick Tulloch, ECR's Chairman, said: "Attitudes towards money and financial
systems are changing and the increased awareness of digital assets in recent
years has made them a growing, and in some cases preferred, payment
mechanism.  ECR is poised to enter a new phase of its development when its
projects potentially move into commercial production.  As we announced on 4
August 2025, our Blue Mountain Project in particular has the potential not
only to make a significant revenue contribution to ECR but also to generate
positive operating cashflow for deployment to our proposed bitcoin and digital
asset treasury. It is incumbent on ECR to have in place a robust cash
management strategy ahead of that potential commercial production and it is
equally apparent that a multi-national, and therefore multi-currency, business
such as ours will benefit from an active currency management solution.

 

"We have begun working with experts in this field to implement the Policy. In
particular, we have identified several experienced individuals, and we are
expecting to make an advisory appointment shortly.

 

"We have a great deal to look forward to in the coming months and I will look
forward to updating shareholders further in due course."

 

(1) after operating costs, capital expenditure and short-term working capital
requirements; and

(2) taking into account forthcoming capital expenditure and operating costs as
well as a benchmark of maintaining 12 months' of working capital.

 

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  info@allenbycapital.com (mailto:info@allenbycapital.com)

 Nick Naylor / Alex Brearley / Vivek Bhardwaj

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

 SI Capital Ltd                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Tel: +44 (0) 1483 413500
 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. ECR's wholly
owned Australian subsidiary ECR Minerals (Australia) Pty Ltd ("ECR Australia")
has 100% ownership of the Bailieston and Creswick gold projects in central
Victoria, Australia, has six licence applications outstanding which includes
one licence application lodged in eastern Victoria (Tambo gold project).

 

ECR also owns 100% of an Australian subsidiary ECR Minerals (Queensland) Pty
Ltd which has three approved exploration permits covering 946 km(2) over a
relatively unexplored area in Lolworth Range, Queensland, Australia. The
Company has also submitted a license 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), MGA 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 Australia also has approximately A$75 million of unutilised tax losses
incurred during previous operations.

 

 

 

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