Craig Brown, Chief Executive Officer of ECR Minerals plc, commented: “I am pleased to announce the complete results of the RC drilling programme undertaken at the Blue Moon prospect and the new gold discovery we have now confirmed.
ECR Minerals plc (LON: ECR), the precious metals exploration and development company, is pleased to announce further results from the reverse circulation (RC) drilling programme completed in February and March 2019 at the Blue Moon gold prospect in the state of Victoria, Australia.
The Blue Moon prospect is located within the Bailieston gold project (EL5433), which is 100%-owned by ECR’s wholly owned Australian subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia Pty Ltd (“MGA”).
Readers are advised to review the Company’s announcement dated 28 January 2019 regarding the initiation of the Blue Moon drilling programme, which can be viewed through the following link:
https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/ecr_minerals/news/rns/story/x2q8qzx
Readers are also advised to review the Company’s announcement dated 14 March 2019 regarding the results of RC holes BBM004, BBM006 and BBM007 drilled at Blue Moon, which included high grade intervals and significant widths of anomalous gold grades. The announcement can be viewed through the following link:
https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/ecr_minerals/news/rns/story/wk5q62w
Highlights:
Twelve reverse circulation (RC) holes completed for 1,718 metres drilled at Blue Moon, with significant intersections of gold mineralisation in nine holes (see Table 1, and further information in Table 2).
Based on the results of this programme, together with other exploration as previously reported, Blue Moon constitutes a new gold discovery within the Bailieston project area.
Across the full RC drilling programme, significant intersections included:
2 metres at 17.87 g/t gold within a zone of 15 metres at 3.81 g/t gold from 51 metres in BBM007;
3 metres at 3.88 g/t gold within a zone of 11 metres at 2.42 g/t gold from 169 metres in BBM006;
1 metre at 2.15 g/t gold at the top of a zone of 16 metres at 0.28 g/t gold from 85 metres in BBM004;
2 metres at 1.40 g/t gold within a zone of 14 metres at 0.54 g/t gold in BBM005 from 132 metres;
1 metre at 1.94 g/t gold from 138 metres and 5 metres at 0.46 g/t gold from 152 metres in BBM010;
5 metres at 1.09 g/t gold from 97 metres in BBM013.
The RC programme was devised following the results of a diamond drilling programme completed in 2018 which intersected gold mineralisation in all three holes, together with field mapping and soil geochemical sampling undertaken subsequently.
The RC drilling results indicate that the host sandstone is thicker and the gold grades significantly higher on the westerly section, and further exploration will therefore seek to follow the system to the west, subject to agreeing access with landowners.
Further exploration to the west would initially comprise surface geochemical sampling, potentially followed by drill testing.
Craig Brown, Chief Executive Officer of ECR Minerals plc, commented: “I am pleased to announce the complete results of the RC drilling programme undertaken at the Blue Moon prospect and the new gold discovery we have now confirmed.
Within this follow-up programme, we have reported gold grades of up to 17.87 g/t gold over 2 metres from 57 metres and have significantly increased our knowledge of the geology at Blue Moon.
This represents considerable advancement when set against the diamond drilling results reported in July 2018 from the first three holes at Blue Moon, which included a significant intersection of 39 metres at 0.3 g/t gold from 24.2 metres.
With the knowledge gained from the RC programme we believe that the gold mineralisation intensifies further west and now have a clear action plan to follow the system. We are excited by the findings and will continue our work at Blue Moon and other prospects in the Bailieston project area, with our strategic objective remaining a multi-million ounce gold discovery.”
Further Information
A map showing the location of all drill holes completed at Blue Moon by MGA may be viewed through the following link: https://www.ecrminerals.com/images/BBM_As_2019.jpg
As previously announced, gold mineralisation at Blue Moon is associated with sandstone plus dykes intruding the sandstone and adjacent to it. Sericitic alteration, silicification, sulphide development and gold mineralisation are restricted to the host sandstone with rare sulphides developed in the dykes. Quartz is generally low to absent, even in drill hole BBM007 where quartz was estimated at up to 2% and arsenopyrite at up to 1%.
MGA’s 2018 diamond drilling did not obtain fresh samples from beneath the oxide zone. The twelve reverse circulation (RC) holes completed in February and March 2019 (BBM004-15) aimed to intercept the sandstone on 50 metre spacing across three sections and to gain samples from beneath the oxide zone. Samples from the RC drilling were sent to Gekko Systems in Ballarat, Victoria for fire assay.
Link to full RNS Update https://www.share-talk.co.uk/announcements/bus/ecr-minerals-plc/new-gold-discovery-blue-moon-deposit-victoria-australia/20190501070000Z8127
