TIDMECR
AIM: ECR
ECR MINERALS plc("ECR Minerals", "ECR" or the "Company")
POSITIVE GEOCHEMICAL RESULTS AND START OF DRILLING PROGRAMME AT
BUNG BONG GOLD PROSPECT IN VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA
LONDON: 13 April 2018 - ECR Minerals plc is pleased to provide
the following update regarding exploration at the Bung Bong gold
prospect within the Avoca tenement (EL5387), central Victoria,
Australia.
ECR's wholly owned Australian subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia
Pty Ltd ("MGA") has 100% ownership of the Avoca project, along with
three other exploration licences in Victoria.
Highlights:
-- Positive Bung Bong geochemical results and geological observations
indicate several fault-related quartz and quartz spurs to test
as
potential high-volume targets for gold mineralisation at the
surface.
-- Bung Bong prospect defined by numerous shallow historic workings over
a 400 m strike length and up to 80 m wide. The number of
quartz-related structures and a paucity of deep workings at Bung
Bong
provides opportunity for an open cut operation
-- Road cutting to the north of the workings has exposed seven
west-dipping faults over a 40m zone with associated quartz
veining.
One hypothesis is that the geochemical pattern could correspond
to the
seven faults branching from an anticline.
-- Bung Bong prospect to be one of several prospects to be drilled across
the Avoca tenement. A first pass diamond drilling programme of
six
holes to 70m depth to assess the nature and continuity of the
faults
and associated quartz veining and gold mineralisation to
begin
imminently (15 April 2018)
-- Early indications from pipeline of geochemical surveys carried out at
additional prospects within MGA's four licence areas are
highly
encouraging indicating excellent potential for disseminated
(Fosterville-style) and nuggetty (BendigoBallarat-style)
gold.
Further to ECR's announcement of 20 February 2018, a programme
of field mapping and geochemical sampling at the higher priority
prospects within MGA's licences in Victoria has been carried out.
The purpose of the programme was to augment existing data and to
use the results of the geochemical and surface work help prioritise
prospects and define drill targets. The geochemical results are now
being processed and interpreted, and the first prospect for which
this process has been completed, with drill targets selected, is
Bung Bong.
A diamond drilling programme commencing at the Bung Bong
prospect is due to begin imminently (15 April 2018) and drilling at
several other target prospect areas is planned. These additional
target prospects will be determined by follow-on results of the
geochemical and surface work carried across MGA's four licences and
where all necessary permits are in place. Particularly early
indications from MGA's Blue Moon prospect within the Baillieston
licence are highly encouraging and the Company looks forward to
providing an update shortly.
Figures referred to below may be viewed at the following
links.Fig. 1: https://bit.ly/2qt7m2mFig. 2:
https://bit.ly/2JEkB9e
Craig Brown, CEO of ECR, commented:
"In order to maximise the chances of drilling success, MGA has
invested time and effort in developing a geological understanding
of our multiple target areas within this prolific gold producing
region of Victoria prior to further exploring these further. We are
now excited to be imminently commencing with an initial drill
programme pass of six holes of up to 70m in depth at our Bung bong
prospect within our Avoca licence area.
The results of geochemical work carried out at the Bung Bong
prospect have been positive and when combined with geological
surveys has given us the confidence to commence our drill program.
Road cuttings on the nearby highway show multiple west-dipping
faults linked by associated quartz vein networks that may have the
potential for a broad zone of mineralisation at surface with open
cut opportunities.
Bung Bong is only one of multiple high priority targets within
our four Victorian gold licences and we look forward to providing
further updates soon with regards to the geochemical results at
some of our additional target areas beginning with the Blue Moon
prospect, which have been highly encouraging so far.
The anticipated outcome of this first programme is to establish
if the fault, fold and quartz geometries and mineralising
relationships are indicative for a significant orebody for
follow-up RC resource drilling. We look forward to updating the
market in due course."
Bung Bong prospect geology
The host rocks at Bung Bong are deep marine sandstones and
shales (turbidites). Gold is hosted by fault-related quartz and
quartz spurs. This structural and stratigraphic setting is of a
kind found throughout central Victoria, including in the prolific
Ballarat, Bendigo and Fosterville gold districts.
The prospect is defined by numerous shallow historic workings
extending over a strike length of 400m within a zone up to 80m
wide. A road cutting to the north of the workings reveals seven
west-dipping faults with associated quartz veining (Fig. 1). The
quartz follows the faults, bedding and cleavage. Bedding and
cleavage veins concentrate around faults to create spur zones.
Massive and spurry quartz zones reach up to 8m in width and make
attractive high-volume targets for exploration.
The seven faults are spread across 40m of the road cutting (Fig.
1). The faults transect steep east-dipping beds. There are no major
folds observed in the road cutting. A projection of the faults
beneath the road cutting will eventually lead to an anticlinal fold
and hopefully within the area of the planned drilling.
In all mineral exploration projects, activities in the field
lead to hypotheses which are tested by further work, the results of
which advance the geological understanding of the prospect. In the
case of Bung Bong, it is hypothesised that the intersection of the
faults and the anticline will constitute an attractive target zone,
as found in the Bendigo area. Elsewhere, spurry zones associated
with the fault system may also form attractive targets, especially
where intersecting beds more favourable for vein development..
Geochemical survey
MGA has been utilising a portable XRF (pXRF) to delineate proxy
minerals associated with gold, notably arsenic (As), in an effort
to follow and define ore shoots at the surface (Fig. 2). The pXRF
enables the rapid collection of closely-spaced geochemical data,
which is important for evaluating the relatively narrow reefs in
central Victoria. Broad sample spacing risks stepping over
reefs.
MGA has run a series of pXRF traverses across the Bung Bong
prospect, and this work has revealed a high arsenic zone reaching
90m wide and closely associated with historic workings. High
arsenic values were recorded adjacent to faults 6 and 7 that
contained the large spurry zones in the road cutting (Fig 1). One
hypothesis is that the geochemical pattern could correspond to the
seven faults intersecting an anticline, with the higher-grade
mineralisation near the intersecting structures (Fig. 2).
Proposed drilling
The initial purpose of drilling at Bung Bong will be to assess
the nature and continuity of the faults and associated quartz
veining and gold mineralisation. To achieve this, a first pass
diamond drilling programme of six holes to 70m depth will test the
down-plunge continuation of the mineralisation to the north along
the associated faults and attempt to locate the anticline.
ABOUT ECR
ECR is a mineral exploration and development company. ECR's
wholly owned Australian subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia has 100%
ownership of the Avoca, Bailieston, 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: info@ecrminerals.com
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
FlowComms Tel: +44 (0)7891 677 441
Investor Relations
Sasha Sethi
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.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 13, 2018 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)
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