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(Sharecast News) - Australis-focussed gold exploration and development company ECR Minerals announced three new strategic licence applications on Thursday, with a view to adding new exploration opportunities in the state of Queensland.
The AIM-traded firm said three 'exploration permits in application' (EPM) licences had been submitted in north Queensland by its wholly-owned subsidiary LUX Exploration.
It said the three permits represented 300 sub-blocks covering a total of 900 square kilometres of "highly prospective" ground within the Lolworth Range, 200 kilometres west-southwest of Townsville, and 30 kilometres north of Pentland.
The application area contains metamorphic rocks of the Charters Towers Province, which host historical large gold producing centres such as Charters Tower with 6.6 million ounces of gold, and Ravenswood with at least one million ounces.
ECR said the structural and basement geology was poorly understood in the area, suggesting finding new deposits was possible.
The area also contains reported rhyolitic volcanics which play host to intrusion-related breccia gold deposits in the region, such as Mount Leyshon with more than 2.5 million ounces, and Mount Wright with at least one million ounces of gold.
A desktop study of historic exploration data from the late 1980's revealed "highly anomalous" gold stream sediment sample results within the applied areas, it added.
The application area is encompassed on the southern boundary by rich alluvial gold deposits of the Cape River and Gorge Creek area, which drain the southern Lolworth Range.
ECR said the east boundary of two of the applications is bordered by current exploration permits of the Lolworth dyke swarm, which is a north-west trending system of rhyolitic dykes and small breccia pipes containing gold, copper and molybdenum.
Historic samples also highlighted tin-tungsten mineralisation in the western areas of one of the applications, with reports showing no detailed follow-up work had been undertaken.
"The strong cash position enjoyed by ECR Minerals has not only enabled us to launch aggressive drilling programmes across our existing properties, but has also facilitated full utilisation of in-house and advisory resources to identify, investigate and potentially acquire new opportunities to expand our Australian exploration portfolio," said chief executive officer Craig Brown.
"Today's announcement manifestly demonstrates that capability.
"We are currently operating two diamond drill rigs at the Bailieston and Creswick projects in Victoria, Australia, both of which are delivering considerable amounts of drill core for technical review, processing and assay testing."
Brown said the company believed the ongoing drilling operations and the upcoming implementation of drilling across multiple high-profile gold targets would expose ECR to potential new gold discoveries.
"We also look forward to providing further information from the new Queensland Australia licence applications, which we believe offer significant potential for precious and base metal discoveries in an area of Australia where multiple large-scale discoveries have already been made.
"Exploration work across Australia continues apace and we expect to provide further operational updates in the near term."
At 1602 BST, shares in ECR Minerals were up 1.84% at 1.88p.
23 Apr 2024 17:14
IN BRIEF: ECR Minerals prepares Lolworth return as weather improves
ECR Minerals PLC - Australia-focused gold exploration company - At its annual general meeting on Tuesday, says team fields are preparing to return to its Lolworth project in Queensland as weather conditions improve. Says that initial tests have revealed "numerous gold-bearing streams as well as indications of rare earths mineralisation". The best indicators appear to be at Oak Creek prospect, it says. Adds that exploration campaign in Blue Mountain is set to begin.
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