ECR Minerals wins licences for Timor project

ECR Minerals updated the market regarding the company’s gold exploration licences in Victoria, Australia, on Wednesday, which are held by its wholly-owned Australian subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia.

The AIM-traded firm said application for EL6278, the Timor project, had been granted and the new licence registered.

It said EL6278 contained numerous hard rock and alluvial gold deposits evidenced by significant historical workings, and was located adjacent to the Avoca project in the Central Victorian Goldfields.

The transfer of EL5433, the Bailieston project, to MGA had also been approved and registered.

ECR was now working to satisfy all regulatory requirements for the commencement of drilling in the Byron area at Bailieston, the most significant of which is the transfer to MGA of the Section 44 Consent.

ECR said the Timor licence covers approximately 228 square kilometres, and its initial strategy is to advance the project by using historical records and on-the-ground reconnaissance to prioritise the main exploration prospects and identify the primary targets for drilling.

Historical production from some 28 historical ‘deep lead’ alluvial mining operations within EL6278 was believed to have been in the region of 640,000 ounces of gold in total.

In addition, around 20 hard rock workings could be considered to have been significant producers, the board claimed.

Those include the Leviathan group of mines, which were believed to have yielded in excess of 67,500 ounces of gold from 181,000 tonnes of ore, equating to a recovered grade of approximately 11.5g/t gold.

The most significant alluvial producer was the Duke & Main Lead Consols operation, located directly ‘downstream’ from the Leviathan hard rock mines.

EL6278 was registered on 17 March 2017 and is valid for a term of five years from that date, subject to the conditions of the licence.

The principal conditions of the licence included a requirement for minimum exploration expenditures totalling AUD 314,400 over the five years.

Only low impact exploration may be undertaken in the licence area until a work plan submitted by MGA has been approved by the Victorian authorities, and MGA said it did not expect to submit a work plan until targets for drilling have been identified.

“We are pleased to have expanded ECR’s footprint in Victoria with EL6278, the Timor project, and look forward to outlining what we consider to be the exciting prospectivity of this licence area in more detail following our initial work,” commented CEO Craig Brown.

“The historical production figures from the area are impressive, and we hope to demonstrate that significant potential remains.”