(Sharecast News) - ECR Minerals climbed after it kicked-off its gold focused drilling programme at its Victoria Region gold projects in Australia.The start of the programme follows the signing of a contract for 4,000 to 6,000m of reverse circulation drilling in the state by the AIM traded company's wholly owned Australian subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia, with drilling set to commence at the Creswick project this week.This initial works will target multiple quartz vein orientations identified within the Dimocks Main Shale (DMS), which extends over a 15km trend, approximately 7km of which is covered by the subsidiary's granted exploration licence and exploration licence applications.Exploration mapping has identified a large gold system within the DMS, which is the hard-rock source of much alluvial and deep lead gold and has historical alluvial and deep lead production estimated at up to 2.5 Moz in the Creswick/Berry lead system, and up to 11 Moz in the entire Ballarat area.Craig Brown, chief executive of ECR Minerals, said: "This is an extensive drilling campaign by the company, and one of the largest we have undertaken in recent times. ECR's objective is to discover a multi-million ounce gold deposit in Australia and based on the significant technical work undertaken to date, we believe the Creswick and Bailieston licences hold the potential for such a discovery."The drill rig will move to the Blue Moon gold prospect in the Bailieston project area following completion at Creswick, targeting a sandstone which has been heavily weathered near surface but may host higher grade gold mineralisation, including disseminated sulphides, at deeper levels."All the planned drilling is being undertaken from existing cash resources. The company will be entitled to claim back a proportion of drilling costs under government grants subsidising drilling. As a result, and assuming on budget operations and cost recovery through grants, the entire programme is estimated to amount to under 20% of existing cash resources," said Brown.ECR Minerals' shares were up 9.55% at 0.85p at 1610 GMT.
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