ECR Minerals plc (LON: ECR), the exploration and development company focused on gold in Australia, is pleased to provide additional results from its drilling programme at the Kuboid Hill site in its Creswick tenement. Significantly, this drilling campaign has demonstrated quartz/gold mineralisation continuity in the Creswick area with results having the hallmarks of a potential future small scale operation.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Two high grade results of 8.87g/t Au and 8.06g/t Au over 1 metre.
- Far more significant is the extensive broad mineralisation demonstrated in several holes where contiguous gold is present at 3.05g/t Au over 3 metres, 2.25g/t Au over 4 metres and 1g/t Au over 5 metres.
- This compares very favourably with historical mining operations elsewhere in Victoria with broad mineralisation where those grades averaged around 0.7 g/t Au.
- Aggregated 51 metres of mineralized quartz.
- The drilling returned significant intercepts with evidence of anomalous gold within 14 of the 15 holes drilled.
- Bulk sample testing at Creswick has indicated in the past both greater prevalence and higher grades of gold and this is being carried out now on the results for Kuboid Hill.
A total of 1,025 metres of reverse circulation drilling was completed at Kuboid Hill on 16 February 2024 (“Kuboid Hill Programme”). This was the second part of an extended reverse circulation drilling programme, following on from an original drilling programme of 522 metres completed at Davey Road where ECR reported a best overall grade gold of 41.03g/t Au (for full details of the results see announcement dated 12 February 2024). The Kuboid Hill Programme was designed to follow up on the Company’s anomalous gold soil sampling campaign that was completed in 2022 which indicated the potential for a broader system which can now be seen in the today’s results. The drilling also tested best practices for first pass drilling evaluation at Creswick where operators have had historical challenges of reporting a representative broad mineralisation gold grade due to the coarse and random nature of gold that is very often present in Central Victoria.
ECR has now received laboratory results for 15 out of the 17 holes drilled at Kuboid Hill, comprising leaching and fire assay. As with the Davey Road analysis, due to the nature of the course gold expected in this region, ECR then utilises dry-blowing and pan concentration on the ‘leftovers’ from the preliminary drilling results to reduce the gold bias and potentially coalesce the overall Au g/t result. These bulk samples results will follow in due course with the results from the final two holes also anticipated very soon. I.
The best individual grades so far are from two holes: 1m @ 8.87g/t Au (hole KHRC001) and 1m @ 8.06g/t Au (hole KHRC016).
Details of current drilling and significant intercepts > 1g/t
| HOLEID | From (m) | To (m) | Interval (m) | Sample ID | Au g/t |
| KHRC001 | 9 | 10 | 1 | CRC1538 | 8.87 |
| KHRC016 | 50 | 51 | 1 | CRC1146 | 8.06 |
| KHRC012 | 30 | 31 | 1 | CRC718 | 3.11 |
| KHRC010 | 24 | 25 | 1 | CRC547 | 2.23 |
| KHRC009 | 23 | 24 | 1 | CRC608 | 2.18 |
| KHRC007 | 20 | 21 | 1 | CRC1183 | 1.96 |
| KHRC010 | 23 | 24 | 1 | CRC546 | 1.95 |
| KHRC011 | 27 | 28 | 1 | CRC789 | 1.28 |
| KHRC014 | 42 | 43 | 1 | CRC853 | 1.25 |
However, what is far more significant is the extensive broad mineralisation demonstrated in several holes where contiguous gold is present at 3.05g/t Au over 3 metres, 2.25g/t Au over 4 metres and 1g/t Au over 5 metres. The drilling recorded intercepts greater than 0.5 g/t Au average over a total of 51 metres with the broadest identified mineralised zone being over 15 metres (KHRC010). All intercepts align along strike and dip to the same mineralised zone under Kuboid Hill. Previous drilling campaigns within the Creswick project have only identified narrow veins (often less than 1 metre) and high-grade gold mineralisation styles.
Identified Broad Mineralised Zones with intercepts
| HOLEID | From (m) | To (m) | Interval (m) | SampleID | Au g/t | Drilled intercept composite grade |
| KHRC001 | 9 | 10 | 1 | CRC1538 | 8.87 | 4m @ 2.41 g/t Au |
| KHRC001 | 10 | 11 | 1 | CRC1539 | 0.03 | |
| KHRC001 | 11 | 12 | 1 | CRC1540 | 0.26 | |
| KHRC001 | 12 | 13 | 1 | CRC1541 | 0.46 | |
| KHRC006 | 7 | 8 | 1 | CRC1218 | 0.96 | 4m @ 0.52 g/t Au |
| KHRC006 | 8 | 9 | 1 | CRC1219 | 0.03 | |
| KHRC006 | 9 | 10 | 1 | CRC1220 | 0.63 | |
| KHRC006 | 10 | 11 | 1 | CRC1221 | 0.45 | |
| KHRC007 | 19 | 20 | 1 | CRC1182 | 0.77 | 6m @ 0.57 g/t Au |
| KHRC007 | 20 | 21 | 1 | CRC1183 | 1.96 | |
| KHRC007 | 21 | 22 | 1 | CRC1184 | 0.12 | |
| KHRC007 | 22 | 23 | 1 | CRC1185 | 0.05 | |
| KHRC007 | 23 | 24 | 1 | CRC1186 | 0.32 | |
| KHRC007 | 24 | 25 | 1 | CRC1187 | 0.2 | |
| KHRC009 | 17 | 18 | 1 | CRC601 | 0.45 | 8m @ 0.52 g/t Au |
| KHRC009 | 18 | 19 | 1 | CRC602 | 0.12 | |
| KHRC009 | 19 | 20 | 1 | CRC604 | 0.03 | |
| KHRC009 | 20 | 21 | 1 | CRC605 | 0.14 | |
| KHRC009 | 21 | 22 | 1 | CRC606 | 0.58 | |
| KHRC009 | 22 | 23 | 1 | CRC607 | 0.03 | |
| KHRC009 | 23 | 24 | 1 | CRC608 | 2.18 | |
| KHRC009 | 24 | 25 | 1 | CRC609 | 0.59 | |
| KHRC010 | 20 | 21 | 1 | CRC543 | 0.51 | 15m @ 0.51 g/t Au |
| KHRC010 | 21 | 22 | 1 | CRC544 | 0.2 | |
| KHRC010 | 22 | 23 | 1 | CRC545 | 0.03 | |
| KHRC010 | 23 | 24 | 1 | CRC546 | 1.95 | |
| KHRC010 | 24 | 25 | 1 | CRC547 | 2.23 | |
| KHRC010 | 25 | 26 | 1 | CRC548 | 0.22 | |
| KHRC010 | 26 | 27 | 1 | CRC549 | 0.14 | |
| KHRC010 | 27 | 28 | 1 | CRC550 | 0.03 | |
| KHRC010 | 28 | 29 | 1 | CRC551 | 0.35 | |
| KHRC010 | 29 | 30 | 1 | CRC552 | 0.32 | |
| KHRC010 | 30 | 31 | 1 | CRC553 | 0.03 | |
| KHRC010 | 31 | 32 | 1 | CRC554 | 0.41 | |
| KHRC010 | 32 | 33 | 1 | CRC555 | 0.79 | |
| KHRC010 | 33 | 34 | 1 | CRC556 | 0.03 | |
| KHRC010 | 34 | 35 | 1 | CRC557 | 0.43 | |
| KHRC012 | 27 | 28 | 1 | CRC715 | 0.76 | 5m @ 1.00 g/t Au |
| KHRC012 | 28 | 29 | 1 | CRC716 | 0.26 | |
| KHRC012 | 29 | 30 | 1 | CRC717 | 0.21 | |
| KHRC012 | 30 | 31 | 1 | CRC718 | 3.11 | |
| KHRC012 | 31 | 32 | 1 | CRC719 | 0.67 | |
| KHRC014 | 42 | 43 | 1 | CRC853 | 1.25 | 3m @ 0.53 g/t Au |
| KHRC014 | 43 | 44 | 1 | CRC854 | 0.13 | |
| KHRC014 | 44 | 45 | 1 | CRC855 | 0.2 | |
| KHRC016 | 46 | 47 | 1 | CRC1142 | 0.27 | 6m @ 1.55 g/t Au |
| KHRC016 | 47 | 48 | 1 | CRC1143 | 0.03 | |
| KHRC016 | 48 | 49 | 1 | CRC1144 | 0.38 | |
| KHRC016 | 49 | 50 | 1 | CRC1145 | 0.42 | |
| KHRC016 | 50 | 51 | 1 | CRC1146 | 8.06 | |
| KHRC016 | 51 | 52 | 1 | CRC1147 | 0.16 |
Whilst this is still early stage, this drilling campaign at Kuboid Hill is the first time that ECR has demonstrated that broad-scale quartz/gold mineralisation exists in the Creswick area. Also significantly broad mineralisation is also present at shallow vertical depths. This compares very well with historical small-scale commercial mining operations elsewhere in Victoria with similar broad mineralisation where those grades averaged around 0.7 g/t Au (examples being the Bailieston open pit and the Nagambie open pit). Furthermore these previous mines were established when the gold price was much lower than it is today.
Drilling at Kuboid Hill was some 8km west of previous exploration undertaken at Davey Road which is associated with, or close to, the Dimocks Main Shale corridor (“DMS”). Kuboid Hill falls within another parallel mineralised system approximately 8km west of the DMS and shows early signs of the potential to generate a low-grade, bulk tonnage proposition. This is the first type of modern exploration applied within this part of Creswick.
ECR’s next steps are to dry-blow bulk sampling of anomalous and broad mineralisation zones as described above. This follow-on step at Davey Road produced some enhancement of the results there. These preliminary results from Kuboid Hill took some time to assemble given the extent of mineralisation zones but the Company anticipates the results of the final two drill holes and the bulk sampling will be completed more quickly. A further announcement will be made in due course.
Mike Whitlow Chief Operating Officer said: “These results point to, what the directors believe is, a significant breakthrough at Creswick where the geological features demonstrate a distinct difference from the challenges historically faced in the region which we have previously understood to be predominated by the sporadic or random nature of coarse nuggety gold. With this new analysis what we now understand is that Kuboid Hill has a potentially extensive presence of larger ore bodies from much broader quartz/gold mineralised zones.
“Our Creswick tenement covers a total of 192 square kilometres and investors will be aware that ECR has undertaken a considerable amount of work on our prospects there. We still have more to do but, importantly, what we can now see is the commercial potential in the aggregated 51 metres of mineralized quartz. Investors may recall a video released in January of this year featuring our Chairman, Nick Tulloch, and Chief Geologist, Adam Jones, standing in front of the former open pit gold mine just to the north of our Baileston tenement. To set today’s results in context, that Baileston mine produced approximately 20,000 oz at an average grade of around 0.7g Au/t, and whilst ECR’s Creswick tenement is still early stage, and there can be no guarantee it will produce gold, we consider this indicative of the potential in this area.
“We look forward to reporting our bulk samples shortly and, further to the placing we announced on 14 March 2024, we will shortly finalise and announce our 2024 work programme in Victoria and Queensland.”
REVIEW OF ANNOUNCEMENT BY QUALIFIED PERSON
This announcement has been reviewed by Adam Jones, Chief Geologist at ECR Minerals plc. Adam Jones is a professional geologist and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (MAIG). He is a qualified person as that term is defined by the AIM Note for Mining, Oil and Gas Companies.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
| ECR Minerals plc | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7929 1010 | ||
| Nick Tulloch, Chairman
Andrew Scott, Director |
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