Craig Brown, Chief Executive Officer commented: “The work we are undertaking at Creswick is highly exciting given the transformational potential this large footprint gold system offers.
The question we have to answer is how much gold does the DMS hold that would be amenable to a bulk tonnage gold mining operation. We are closing in on the answer and the directors believe that the outcome has the potential to be Company transformational and is therefore deserving of our close attention.
We eagerly await the findings from the whole of bag gravity concentration work and will report back to the market as significant developments occur.”
ECR Minerals plc (LSE:ECR), the precious metals exploration and development company, is pleased to provide an update in respect of the Company’s exploration programme at the Creswick gold project (the “Project”) in Victoria, Australia.
Highlights:
- The Company has completed 1,687 metres of reverse circulation drilling in 17 holes at the Creswick gold project targeting multiple quartz vein orientations within the Dimocks Main Shale (“DMS”);
- Drilling identified more extensive quartz than anticipated, in a zone exceeding 60m in width (more than twice the 25m width expected) with quartz identified in over one third of the 1,687 metres drilled;
- The majority of drill results have now been received and are being reviewed by the Company’s technical team. Of the 17 holes drilled the Company has identified gold mineralisation in all holes so far with grades in 9 holes ranging from 0.6 g/t gold to 44.63 g/t gold (1.44 oz per tonne);
- Technical review of the drill programme and assay results has confirmed elements of the complex geology at Creswick and confirmed that the gold mineralisation is ‘nuggetty’ in nature;
- Nuggetty gold distribution can lead to understated assays, as the larger the nuggets the less the chance they will be captured in the drilled metre. Compounding the problem is only a small portion of each reverse circulation sample bag is actually tested. Conversely results can be overstated if the nugget happens to be captured in the small sample;
- ECR has therefore commenced a process of gravity concentration tests from whole of bag samples from the reverse circulation drilling and will release results as the more representative whole of sample bag analyses are conducted;
From a trial sample bag tested from hole CSR011 a nugget has been found in the previously untested portion of the sample and overall the sample has demonstrated gold of 11.8 g/t from whole-of-bag gravity concentration, some 528% greater than the 1.88 g/t assay result; - Until further extensive whole-of-bag tests have been completed the results of the assays from the drilling program may be unreliable as indicators of true grade at this stage;
- The work undertaken indicates that we believe there is potential for a very substantial gold deposit within the DMS as highlighted previously by the Company’s technical team and ECR is now accelerating the highly important gravity concentration tests as outlined;
- A fuller explanation of the nugget effect and its implications is provided below and further updates will be announced to market as soon as practicable.
Craig Brown, Chief Executive Officer commented: “The work we are undertaking at Creswick is highly exciting given the transformational potential this large footprint gold system offers.
The question we have to answer is how much gold does the DMS hold that would be amenable to a bulk tonnage gold mining operation. We are closing in on the answer and the directors believe that the outcome has the potential to be Company transformational and is therefore deserving of our close attention.
We eagerly await the findings from the whole of bag gravity concentration work and will report back to the market as significant developments occur.”
Background:
Within the Company’s announcement dated 25 September 2018 it was confirmed that exploration mapping undertaken by the Company at the Project had identified a large gold system in the Dimocks Main Shale (“DMS”) gold targets. The announcement can be viewed through the following link:
https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/ecr_minerals/news/rns/story/xomoomr
The DMS sits between two large gold producing areas in Victoria, Australia where it is estimated that, historically, 15 million ounces of gold has been produced. It was the proposition of the Company’s technical team that they had identified the hard rock source for a significant portion of the aforementioned 15 million ounces of gold,. although further work was required to validate this proposition.
A visual representation of the DMS and the Company’s mapping, which demonstrates the potential link from the alluvial source with the DMS, is provided through following links to the ECR Minerals website:
https://www.ecrminerals.com/images/Creswick_Map1.jpg
https://www.ecrminerals.com/images/Creswick_Map2.jpg
Reverse Circulation Programme:
On 28 January 2019 the Company announced the commencement of a reverse circulation drilling programme targeting multiple quartz vein orientations identified within the DMS.
The majority of drill results have now been received and are being reviewed by the Company’s technical team. Of the 17 holes drilled the Company has identified gold mineralisation in 9 holes so far with grades ranging from 0.6 g/t to 44.63 g/t (1.44 ounces per tonne).
Further information in respect of the drill programme and the complete assay results will be provided in due course when all results have been received and analysed by the Company’s technical team; and alongside other important exploration and investigative work as outlined below.
Gold Nugget Effect – Creswick Project – Full RNS LINK
