Last checked at 
LONDON (Alliance News) - ECR Minerals PLC on Friday said the drilling programme at the Blue Moon gold prospect in central Victoria, Australia has indicated potential for an extensive mineralised system.
The stock was trading 24% higher following the news at 0.98 pence per share on Friday.
The exploration company said the aim of drilling was to identify the presence of gold, enable further exploration, and identify the potential for commercial development.
ECR Minerals said it drilled three holes at Blue Moon. BBM001 and BBM002 were designed to establish the dip of the host sandstones and assess the potential for gold mineralisation. Meanwhile, BBM003 was drilled down dip to obtain a large number of samples for analysis.
All three holes intercepted gold mineralisation and the results support ECR's hypothesis that Blue Moon is a disseminated gold system comparable to the Fosterville mine, located about 50 kilometres away.
Looking ahead, the company said it has requested multi-element assay data to complement the gold results received and hired a technical team to undertake additional work to move the Blue Moon target forward.
"Australia in general and central Victoria region continues to experience a gold exploration boom and ECR are building a material presence in that region," said Chief Executive Craig Brown.
"The results today provide an exciting opportunity for the company and we are keen to push ahead with our work to ascertain the size and nature of the mineralised system we have identified," added Brown.
