ECR Minerals : Acquisition of Creswick Gold Project in Victoria, Australia

AIM: ECR

ECR MINERALS plc
('ECR Minerals', 'ECR' or the 'Company')
ACQUISITION OF CRESWICK GOLD PROJECT IN VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA

LONDON: 20 April 2018 - ECR Minerals plc is pleased to announce that the Company's wholly owned subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia Pty Ltd ('MGA') has acquired 100% ownership of the Creswick gold project in central Victoria, Australia. The project is considered highly prospective for gold mineralisation hosted within the Dimocks Main Shale, which extends over a 15 km trend from the mining centre of Ballarat to the south, including approximately 3 km within the Creswick project area.

The Creswick exploration licence (EL006184) has been transferred by the previous holder with no consideration payable by ECR or MGA. The expiry date of the licence is 28 December 2021. There was no profit or turnover attaching to the asset and there was no book value at acquisition.

Project geology and proposed exploration

In the project area, the Dimocks Main Shale (DMS) is an approximately 25 m wide shale containing bedding- and cleavage-parallel auriferous quartz veins with potential for bulk mining. The width of the shale and the occurrence of multiple veins in some zones indicates that potential open pit mining targets may present themselves as exploration progresses. Almost 1,500 shallow primary workings have been mapped in the belt from North Ballarat to Spring Hill (Creswick).

The DMS is the source of much alluvial and deep lead gold. Historical alluvial production is estimated at up to 2.5 million ounces in the Creswick/Berry lead system, and up to 11 million ounces in the Ballarat area as a whole, of which the DMS is a significant contributor.

Only two holes have been drilled to test the DMS within the Creswick licence, both in the 1990s. The results of this drilling included an intercept of 2 m at 12.28 g/t gold. The best previous drill intercept into the DMS to the south of Creswick is 2 m at 176 g/t gold. A drilling programme of eight holes was designed by Dr Boucher for the previous holder of the licence and submitted to the Victorian government for approval. ECR is considering whether to carry out this drilling immediately after the ongoing drilling campaign covering MGA's Avoca and Bailieston projects has been completed.

Craig Brown, CEO of ECR, commented:

'We are pleased to add another highly prospective licence to MGA's portfolio in Victoria, especially for no acquisition cost. The mines in and around Ballarat have been immensely productive in the past, and gold mining continues in the town today. With this in mind, we look forward to commencing field activities at the Creswick project.'

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, Creswick, 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.

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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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