Visible gold, underground development and trial mining programme underpins next phase of operations
ECR Minerals plc (LON: ECR), the gold exploration and development company focused on Australia, announces that it has conditionally raised £636,250 (before expenses) by way of a placing with existing shareholders and other investors (the “Fundraising”) of a total of 363,571,430 new ordinary shares of 0.001 pence each in the Company (“Ordinary Shares”) at a price of 0.175 pence per new Ordinary Share (the “Issue Price”).
The Directors intend that the majority of the net proceeds of the Fundraising will be used to advance ECR’s Maddens gold project in Northern Queensland (the “Maddens Gold Project”). ECR has a 50% interest in the Maddens Gold Project. As previously announced by ECR, the Company has advanced several operational and technical workstreams for the development of the Maddens Gold Project, which the Board considers to be ECR’s highest-priority gold production opportunity. These activities span underground mine development (the “Maddens Underground Mine”), geological evaluation, processing plant enhancements and preparations for trial alluvial mining, reflecting ECR’s strategy of establishing multiple gold production opportunities from a single operating hub.
Specifically the net proceeds of the Fundraising will be applied to:
- ongoing development of the Maddens Underground Mine, where an additional mineralised quartz vein containing visible gold has been identified;
- supporting production of gold extracted from the Maddens Underground Mine, with ore already being stockpiled on the run-of-mine (“ROM”) pad ahead of future processing;
- trial alluvial mining within the Brothers Mining Lease area, an area which has already shown encouraging prospecting results, following the redeployment of equipment from Raglan; and
- further exploration work over the Maddens Gold Project, following the recently completed Light Detection and Ranging (“LiDAR”) survey, with preliminary interpretation indicating potential extensions of the Maddens mineralised system towards the historic Sisters Mine.
The Directors also intend to apply a portion of the net proceeds of the Fundraising towards ECR’s general corporate and working capital requirements. Following completion of the Fundraising, the Board believes the Company will be well funded to execute its planned operational programmes for this year, including advancing the Maddens Gold Project towards production during 2026, while retaining flexibility to pursue additional opportunities as they arise.
Over the medium term, the Directors believe that if there is successful gold production from the Maddens Gold Project, this has the potential to fund a significant proportion of the Company’s corporate overheads while supporting further exploration and development across ECR’s wider Australian portfolio.
The Fundraising follows a series of recent operational milestones at the Maddens Gold Project, including continued underground mine development, identification of a second mineralised quartz vein containing visible gold, stockpiling of ore ahead of processing and completion of a LiDAR survey that has highlighted further exploration potential across the project area. The Board believes these developments provide a strong platform as the Company advances towards production at the Maddens Underground Mine.
Details of the Fundraising
The Company has conditionally raised £636,250 (before expenses) through the Fundraising through the issue of 363,571,430 new Ordinary Shares at the Issue Price. The new Ordinary Shares will be issued on a non-pre-emptive basis pursuant to the authorities granted to the Board at the Company’s annual general meeting held on 27 March 2026.
The new Ordinary Shares, when issued and fully paid, will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing Ordinary Shares in issue and therefore will rank equally for all dividends or other distributions declared, made or paid after the issue of the new Ordinary Shares.
The Issue Price represents a discount of 12.5 per cent. to the closing middle market price of 0.20 pence per Ordinary Share on 7 August 2026, being the latest business day prior to the announcement of the Fundraising.
SI Capital Limited (“SI Capital”) acted as the Company’s broker in connection with the Fundraising.
Investor warrants and broker warrants
For every new Ordinary Share issued pursuant to the Fundraising, subscribers will receive one warrant allowing the holder to subscribe for an additional new Ordinary Share in the Company at an exercise price of 0.30 pence per Ordinary Share, exercisable within three years of Admission. In aggregate 363,571,430 warrants have been issued pursuant to the Fundraising. The warrants will not be tradeable, nor transferable or CREST-enabled.
In connection with the Fundraising, the Company will issue, on completion of the Fundraising, 7,271,428 warrants to SI Capital (the “Broker Warrants”). Each Broker Warrant entitles SI Capital to acquire one new Ordinary Share exercisable at the Issue Price. The Broker Warrants are exercisable at any time until the third year anniversary of Admission. The Broker Warrants will not be tradeable, nor transferable or CREST-enabled.
Admission and Total Voting Rights
An application will be made to London Stock Exchange plc (“London Stock Exchange”) for the 363,571,430 new Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM, a market operated by the London Stock Exchange (“Admission”) and it is currently anticipated that Admission will become effective, and that dealings in the new Ordinary Shares will commence on AIM, at 8.00 a.m. on or around 14 August 2026. Completion of the Fundraising is conditional on Admission.
Upon Admission, the Company’s issued ordinary share capital will consist of 3,965,061,824 Ordinary Shares with one voting right each. The Company does not hold any Ordinary Shares in treasury. Therefore, from Admission the total number of Ordinary Shares and voting rights in the Company will be 3,965,061,824. With effect from Admission, this figure may be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the FCA’s Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.
Nick Tulloch, ECR’s Chairman, commented: “Since ECR’s acquisition of Paleogold in May this year, it has become increasingly apparent that the Maddens Gold Project represents the most exciting prospect in ECR’s portfolio. With visible gold now apparent in the Maddens Underground Mine, we are expecting production to commence later this year. With the Maddens Underground Mine having historically produced at grades of up to 25g/tonne, there is every reason to be optimistic about how this could be transformational for ECR.
“The Board is always sensitive to shareholder dilution but the potential opportunities at the Maddens Gold Project are too significant to not advance. The additional capital at our disposal will support both production plans at the Maddens Underground Mine and trial alluvial mining at the Brothers Mining Lease area, as well as continuing our exploration of the wider area. To date there has been no systematic exploration across the tenement, and as such, we consider that there is significant upside potential across the Maddens Gold Project beyond the production opportunities already identified.”
