In our SmallCapPix Interview with Mike Whitlow, Managaing Director of ECR Minerals, Mike gave us an update on the potential deal, potential size and how the funds could be channeled into existing projects on successful deal completion.

We discussed existing projects:

Blue Mountain

Recent news on Blue Mountain revealed projected gold recoveries of up to 91% with near-surface mineralisation.  A trenching and bulk concentrate sampling programme was undertaken at the Blue Mountain Project during July 2024.  Following highly encouraging results from sluice box concentrates, with best results including 192.15 g/t Au and 97.40 g/t Au, further samples were submitted to the laboratory to undergo an enhanced gold recovery process to determine the potential commercial options for recovery.

The Blue Mountain Project is based on an alluvial gold system.  Gold is therefore found at or near the surface, meaning that the mining techniques used to extract any minerals are not associated with high capital expenditure that other projects may have, for example, where higher gold grades are located at great depth.

The Board and ECR's technical team will now further evaluate these results and determine the next steps for the Blue Mountain Project.

Tambo 

Diamond Drilling commenced at Tambo on 17th October. 

The maiden diamond drilling campaign has commenced at the Tambo Gold Project targeting beneath the historical workings of the Duke of Cornwall Mine, Swifts Creek. The drilling programme is expected to take approximately two weeks with up to 500 metres of aggregate depth planned, although the exact profile of the campaign will be determined on site. 

Previous rock chip assays from direct outcrop and exposures around and within the old workings include results of 22.85 g/t Au, 26.25 g/t Au and 52.2 g/t Au coupled with highly anomalous gold in soils. Initial results are expected in November 2024.

Lolworth

378 rock chip samples analysed with highest-grade gold results including 11.05, 14.15 and 14.7 g/t Au.  Newly-discovered gold-bearing veins were also identified near Gorge Creek West and Uncle Terry prospects.

Adam Jones, ECR Chief Geologist said: ''These rock chip and trenching results from Lolworth further validate the significant potential that the Board sees in this substantial acreage Project. Not only are we uncovering gold, but we are now seeing significant traces of silver. As previously announced, we believe that there are also exciting prospects for rare earths and other critical minerals and we expect both our own exploration programmes, as well as the recent sampling by the Geological Society of Queensland, will provide us with valuable insights and guide our next steps. The geological resemblance of the Lolworth region to the well-known Charters Towers and Ravenswood goldfields is giving us a glimpse of what may lie within these mountain ranges."

With three projects in motion and the potential concluson of a non-core asset dispoal deal that could potentially be larger than the current company's market cap of just £7m, ECR Minerals could be worth a look