ECR Minerals PLC
09 July 2026
9 July 2026
ECR MINERALS PLC
("ECR Minerals", "ECR" or the "Company")
New drill target identified at Lolworth
Laboratory Gold Assays reveal new 200-Metre drill-ready gold corridor at Butterfly Creek
ECR Minerals plc (AIM: ECR), the gold exploration and development company focused on Australia, is pleased to announce that laboratory gold assay results from the Butterfly Creek Prospect have identified a compelling new drill-ready gold target within its 100% owned Lolworth Project in North Queensland.
Highlights
· New drill-ready gold target identified at the Butterfly Creek Prospect within ECR's 100%-owned Lolworth Project
· Laboratory gold assays delineate a well-defined 200-metre north-northeast trending gold corridor
· Peak soil assay of 3,510 ppb Au
· Sixteen soil samples returned greater than 100 ppb Au, outlining a well-defined mineralised system
· Gold anomaly branches into a second northeast-trending structure associated with quartz outcrop
· Results define a compelling follow-up drill target at Butterfly Creek
The first complete laboratory dataset from Butterfly Creek has delineated a well-defined north-northeast trending gold corridor extending over approximately 200 metres, with a peak soil assay of 3,510 ppb Au.
The gold anomaly was not detected during earlier portable X-Ray Fluorescence ("pXRF") analysis, demonstrating the necessity of laboratory gold analysis as an additional exploration technique to identify gold mineralisation that may not be recognised through conventional pathfinder analysis techniques alone.
The Board considers that these results further demonstrate the extent of exploration opportunities within ECR's Queensland gold portfolio, complementing the Company's production-focused activities at Raglan, Maddens and Blue Mountain.
Background
The Lolworth Project covers approximately 946 km² within the highly prospective Hodgkinson Gold Province of North Queensland and is ECR's largest exploration asset.
In December 2025, the Company announced encouraging maiden drilling results from the Uncle Terry and Gorge Creek West Prospects, confirming a gold-silver system and demonstrating the significant exploration potential across the project.
Those discoveries originated from a systematic soil sampling programme undertaken between 2023 and 2024. Initial interpretation relied primarily on portable X-Ray Fluorescence ("pXRF") analysis to identify pathfinder elements such as lead, arsenic and silver that could indicate nearby gold mineralisation.
Whilst this approach successfully identified the mineralisation subsequently drilled at Uncle Terry and Gorge Creek West, pXRF technology cannot directly detect low concentrations of gold.
To further evaluate the wider exploration potential of Lolworth, ECR submitted approximately 1,500 soil samples for laboratory fire assay and Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) analysis at Onsite Laboratory Services ("OSLS") in Bendigo, Victoria. The samples covered both the Butterfly Creek and Uncle Terry Prospects.
The Butterfly Creek results announced today represent the first complete laboratory dataset received from this programme.
Figure 1: Location of the Butterfly Creek Prospect within ECR's 100% owned Lolworth Project
Butterfly Creek Results
A total of 500 soil samples were collected across Butterfly Creek on a systematic 25 metre by 25 metre grid, with selected areas around quartz outcrop infilled to 15 metre spacing.
Laboratory analysis has defined a coherent gold anomaly striking north-northeast over approximately 200 metres, which the Board considers represents a compelling new drill target.
The anomaly comprises sixteen soil samples returning greater than 100 ppb Au, including a peak soil assay of 3,510 ppb Au (3.51 ppm). Further details of the best gold-in-soil results from the Butterfly Creek Prospect can be found in Table 1 below.
Figure 2. Gold soil geochemistry at Butterfly Creek showing the north-northeast trending gold corridor defined by laboratory fire assay results
The gold anomaly forms a well-defined north-northeast trending corridor before branching into a second northeast-trending structure associated with a broad quartz outcrop, suggesting strong structural control on mineralisation.
Importantly, the anomalous gold values extend beyond the mapped quartz exposures, indicating the mineralised system has the potential to continue beneath shallow cover.
Unlike the Company's previous discoveries at Uncle Terry and Gorge Creek West, the Butterfly Creek gold system displays little correlation with conventional pathfinder elements such as lead or silver. Consequently, the target was not recognised during earlier pXRF surveys and only became apparent following laboratory fire assay.
The Board believes that these results demonstrate that laboratory gold assays provide an important complementary exploration technique capable of identifying mineralised systems that may not be recognised through conventional pXRF pathfinder analysis alone.
Historical metal detector activity along the ridge has also recovered several rich gold-bearing quartz specimens directly above the newly defined gold corridor, providing additional confidence that the surface geochemistry should reflect an underlying bedrock gold system.
Figure 3. High-grade gold-bearing quartz specimen recovered by historical prospecting along the Butterfly Creek ridge, coincident with the newly defined gold corridor
The Company has commenced planning follow-up exploration, including detailed geological mapping and an initial drill programme in due course to test the newly identified target.
Adam Jones, ECR Chief Geologist, commented: "These are some of the most exciting soil results we've generated at Lolworth to date. Rather than isolated gold values, we've identified a well-defined mineralised corridor extending for around 200 metres, with gold values reaching 3.51 grams per tonne in soil samples.
"Perhaps just as importantly, this target was not identified using conventional pXRF pathfinder analysis. It only became apparent once the samples were analysed by laboratory fire assay. That validates the exploration model we wanted to test and demonstrates the value of laboratory gold analysis in identifying mineralisation that may otherwise remain undetected.
"Combined with our encouraging maiden drilling results at Uncle Terry and Gorge Creek West announced last year, these latest assays continue to reinforce our view that Lolworth is evolving into a district-scale gold system containing multiple independent exploration targets."
ECR Chairman, Nick Tulloch, added: "Today's announcement represents another important step forward for our Lolworth Project. We now have multiple prospects delivering encouraging exploration results, reinforcing our confidence in the scale and potential of this highly prospective Queensland gold project.
"As ECR continues to advance its strategy of becoming a diversified Australian gold company, Maddens, Raglan and Blue Mountain are focused on nearer-term production-related activities while Lolworth represents a significant longer-term discovery opportunity. Results such as these continue to reinforce our confidence in the quality and scale of our Australian gold portfolio."
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.
Table 1: Best gold-in-soil results ≥ 100 ppb Au, Butterfly Creek Prospect
|
Sample ID |
Easting (m) |
Northing (m) |
Au (ppb) |
Au (g/t) |
|
LWL5916 |
310123 |
7749698 |
3,510 |
3.51 |
|
LWL6573 |
310088 |
7749621 |
1,360 |
1.36 |
|
LWL5899 |
310134 |
7749785 |
1,110 |
1.11 |
|
LWL6607 |
310124 |
7749668 |
1,080 |
1.08 |
|
LWL6566 |
310074 |
7749626 |
776 |
0.78 |
|
LWL6544 |
310101 |
7749660 |
450 |
0.45 |
|
LWL6537 |
310069 |
7749656 |
428 |
0.43 |
|
LWL5917 |
310146 |
7749708 |
301 |
0.30 |
|
LWL6562 |
310110 |
7749643 |
259 |
0.26 |
|
LWL6582 |
310101 |
7749616 |
250 |
0.25 |
|
LWL6635 |
310106 |
7749736 |
248 |
0.25 |
|
LWL6571 |
310070 |
7749613 |
222 |
0.22 |
|
LWL6572 |
310079 |
7749617 |
186 |
0.19 |
|
LWL6540 |
310096 |
7749669 |
175 |
0.18 |
|
LWL6558 |
310106 |
7749651 |
123 |
0.12 |
|
LWL6636 |
310115 |
7749740 |
102 |
0.10 |
* Locations (Easting/Northing) given in GDA94 Zone 55 format.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
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ECR Minerals plc |
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8080 8176 |
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Nick Tulloch, Chairman Andrew Scott, Director |
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Website: www.ecrminerals.com |
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Allenby Capital Limited |
Tel: +44 (0) 3328 5656 |
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Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker Alex Brearley / Nick Naylor / Vivek Bhardwaj (Corporate Finance) Kelly Gardiner (Sales and Corporate Broking) |
|
|
OAK Securities Joint Broker Jerry Keen / Robert Bell |
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3973 3678 |
|
Axis Capital Markets Limited |
Tel: +44 (0) 203 026 0320 |
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Joint Broker |
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Lewis Jones |
|
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SI Capital Ltd |
Tel: +44 (0) 1483 413500 |
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Joint Broker |
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Nick Emerson |
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Brand Communications |
Tel: +44 (0) 7976 431608 |
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Public & Investor Relations |
|
|
Alan Green |
ABOUT ECR MINERALS PLC
ECR Minerals is a mineral exploration and development company operating through four wholly owned Australian subsidiaries ECR Minerals (Australia) Pty Ltd ("ECR Australia"), ECR Minerals (Queensland) Pty Ltd ("ECR Queensland"), ECR Minerals (Raglan) Pty Ltd ("ECR Raglan") and ECR Minerals (Paleogold) Ltd ("ECR Paleogold").
ECR Paleogold has a 50% interest in the Maddens hard rock mining project in Northern Queensland where work is underway for production this year. It also has a 20% interest in the Salt Bush shallow open cut mining project in South Australia where preparations are underway for production which is expected to commence around mid-2027. ECR Paleogold also owns 80% of the Tuckanarra exploration project in Western Australia.
ECR Australia owns the Bailieston and Creswick gold projects in central Victoria, Australia as well as the Tambo gold project in eastern Victoria.
ECR Raglan has a mining lease at the Raglan alluvial gold project in central Queensland, Australia and ECR Queensland has two approved exploration permits over the nearby Blue Mountain alluvial gold project. The Raglan project is in an initial production phase and ECR is currently working to bring the Blue Mountain alluvial gold project into production. ECR Queensland also has three approved exploration permits covering 946 km2 over a relatively unexplored area in Lolworth Range in northern Queensland. Furthermore, it has also submitted a licence application at Kondaparinga which is approximately 120km2 in area and located within the Hodgkinson Gold Province, 80km NW of Mareeba, North Queensland.
Following the sale of the Avoca, Moormbool and Timor gold projects in Victoria, Australia to Fosterville South Exploration Ltd (TSX-V: FSX) and the subsequent spin-out of the Avoca and Timor projects to Leviathan Gold Ltd (TSX-V: LVX), ECR Australia has the right to receive up to A$2 million in payments subject to future resource estimation or production from these projects.
ECR Australia also has approximately A$77 million of unutilised tax losses incurred during previous operations.
Glossary
|
g: |
Grammes (Metric) |
|
g/t: |
Grammes per tonne |
|
ICP |
Inductively Coupled Plasma, an analytical technique used in mining to identify and measure the elemental composition of geological samples |
|
kg: |
Kilogrammes (Metric) |
|
km: |
Kilometres (Metric) |
|
km²: |
Kilometre squared (Metric) |
|
M: |
Metres (Metric) |
|
ppb: |
Parts per billion (Metric) |
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ppm |
Parts per million (Metric) |
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pXRF: |
Portable x-ray fluorescence (analyser) |
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