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(Alliance News) - ECR Minerals PLC on Monday reported a widened annual loss, as it announced new stream results from its Lolworth Range project in Queensland, Australia.
The Australia-focused mineral exploration and development company reported a pretax loss of GBP2.6 million in the financial year ended September 30, widening from GBP1.5 million the previous year.
ECR Minerals said this loss principally reflected the impairment of the Danglay Gold project. Its total administrative expenses also widened to GBP2.8 million from GBP1.5 million.
The company explained that, in maintaining intensive drilling campaigns and exploration activities, its capital position reduced during the year and now stands at GBP612,582.
Nonetheless, ECR Minerals said the cost of its scheduled activities for the coming year are "in hand," following the previously announced post-year-end fundraising and the sale of the Bendigo property in August.
Chief Executive Andrew Haythorpe said the company has seen a resurgence in value in the price of gold post-year-end. Haythorpe said he believes this is due to gold's "compelling safe-haven status set against a highly uncertain macro picture."
Separately, ECR Minerals announced the final niobium and tantalum stream results from its Lolworth Range project in Queensland.
The company said the best results include niobium up to 894 parts per million and tantalum up to 290ppm. It added that the new results extend the anomalous niobium and tantalum drainages 10 kilometres further west of the previously announced results.
CEO Haythrope said: "Although ECR Minerals is currently in an early exploration phase at Lolworth, it is nonetheless gratifying to see the project take a significant step forward on the back of an extension to the potential drainage sources for Niobium and Tantalum. To already have a 50 square kilometre area indicating a potential combined resource for Lithium, Niobium and Tantalum at this phase of exploration is an exciting development by any standard. Whilst still at an early stage, these results together with the gold anomalies reported last week, adds further credence to the board's view that the Lolworth Project has great potential to develop into a multi mineral flagship project for the company."
ECR said a field work campaign is expected to start next month, with the board already having already identified key areas to follow-up from last season's work, targeting the sources for the gold anomalies, along with lithium, tantalum and niobium.
The company said it is "enthused" by the "possibilities and nascent potential" that is believed to exist at Lolworth.
ECR Minerals closed down 9.3% at 0.54 pence on Monday in London.
By Heather Rydings, Alliance News senior economics reporter
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