ECR Minerals Regulatory News (ECR)

7 August 2025

ECR MINERALS PLC

("ECR Minerals", "ECR" or the "Company")

Adoption of Bitcoin and Digital Asset Treasury Management Policy

ECR Minerals plc (LON: ECR), the exploration and development company focused on gold in Australia, is pleased to announce that its board of directors (the "Board" or the "Directors") have adopted a Bitcoin ("BTC") and Digital Asset Treasury Management Policy (the "Policy").

The adoption of the Policy reflects ECR's evolving long-term financial strategy, given ECR's ambition to work towards a potential revenue-generating phase, particularly at its Blue Mountain gold project in Queensland (the "Blue Mountain Project"). As noted in the Company's announcement on 8 October 2024, the Board considers that the Blue Mountain Project may be a viable commercial gold resource.

Using the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, ECR Digital Limited ("ECR Digital"), ECR will hold a portion of its treasury reserves in digital assets, such as BTC or select high tier alternative digital coins, as either a partial hedge against fluctuations in gold prices or as a standalone store of value, which the Board views as effectively functioning as a modern form of digital inventory.

Furthermore, as a UK headquartered company with Australian-based operations, the Board views currency management a core part of the Company's financial planning. In this regard, the Board believes that digital assets such as Bitcoin provides flexibility as a cross-border transactional currency.

Key terms of the Policy:

· Use of BTC for treasury management purposes: The Board intends to invest no more than 50 per cent. of its free cash flows from gold production1 to acquire BTC as a long-term treasury reserve. The Policy also provides that no more than 50 per cent. of surplus cash2 held by the Company may be used for BTC purchases. No speculative or leveraged trading of BTC or other digital assets is permitted, and the Company will not engage in derivatives or leveraged products that deviate from the goal of long-term asset holding.

· Custody and security: The Company will appoint a regulated custodian which is either registered by the Financial Conduct Authority (the "FCA") or regulated in its country of operation and the Policy prescribes a series of security protocols including mandatory storage in multi-signature wallets requiring at least two Board-approved signatories and the use of offline cold storage to minimise cyber risks.

· Approved investment instruments: The only approved instrument, investment or asset which the Company may hold, other than cash, is BTC. However, the Policy does give the Board discretion to select a list of high tier alternative digital assets which may comprise up to 15 per cent. of its available 50 per cent. treasury allocation headroom provided that such assets are capable of generating a yield (for example, Ethereum). Any yield generated must then be utilised to acquire additional BTC or other Board approved high tier alternative digital assets taking into account the Company's available 50 per cent. treasury allocation headroom.

· Supervision, responsibilities and control framework: The Company will appoint a treasury committee, comprising at least one non-executive director, the financial controller and the chairman, who will be responsible for administering and reviewing adherence to the Policy on a quarterly basis.

The full Policy is available on the Company's investor relations website at: https://ecrminerals.com/investors/aim-rule-26/.

Risks associated with the Policy:

While the Board recognises that the acquisition of digital assets, including BTC, may provide benefits (as outlined above), it also acknowledges the inherent risks associated with such assets. Digital assets, including BTC, are highly volatile as well as speculative in nature and are subject to significant price fluctuations. In addition, it should be noted that a growing number of publicly traded companies have adopted digital asset focused treasury strategies, and this has sometimes resulted in significant volatility in their share price and a dislocation between their market capitalisation and the underlying value of their assets. Consequently, exposure to digital assets such as BTC may, in turn, amongst other matters, compound and increase the volatility of the Company's share price.

To mitigate these risks, the Company intends to allocate no more than 50 per cent. of its free cash flow from gold production operations1 and surplus cash2 held by the Company towards principally the acquisition and holding of BTC, the most liquid digital asset, into treasury.

The Board also acknowledges that the regulatory environment for digital assets remains uncertain and subject to change. This may impact the Company's ability to hold or transact in digital assets, including BTC. There are also risks associated with custody, security, and the accounting treatment of digital assets, any of which may have a material adverse effect on the Company's operations and investor returns.

The Company confirms that the implementation of the Policy does not alter its status under UK financial services law, including the Alterative Investment Fund Managers Regulations 2013. The Policy is a treasury management initiative only and does not constitute a collective investment undertaking or alternative investment fund. Similarly, the Policy represents a financial strategy decision and does not alter, the Company's core business operations as an exploration and development company focused on gold in Australia. The adoption of the Policy is not intended to result in the Company becoming or being seen as an investing company.

Nick Tulloch, ECR's Chairman, said: "Attitudes towards money and financial systems are changing and the increased awareness of digital assets in recent years has made them a growing, and in some cases preferred, payment mechanism. ECR is poised to enter a new phase of its development when its projects potentially move into commercial production. As we announced on 4 August 2025, our Blue Mountain Project in particular has the potential not only to make a significant revenue contribution to ECR but also to generate positive operating cashflow for deployment to our proposed bitcoin and digital asset treasury. It is incumbent on ECR to have in place a robust cash management strategy ahead of that potential commercial production and it is equally apparent that a multi-national, and therefore multi-currency, business such as ours will benefit from an active currency management solution.

"We have begun working with experts in this field to implement the Policy. In particular, we have identified several experienced individuals, and we are expecting to make an advisory appointment shortly.

"We have a great deal to look forward to in the coming months and I will look forward to updating shareholders further in due course."

1 after operating costs, capital expenditure and short-term working capital requirements; and

2 taking into account forthcoming capital expenditure and operating costs as well as a benchmark of maintaining 12 months' of working capital.

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ABOUT ECR MINERALS PLC

ECR Minerals is a mineral exploration and development company. ECR's wholly owned Australian subsidiary ECR Minerals (Australia) Pty Ltd ("ECR Australia") has 100% ownership of the Bailieston and Creswick gold projects in central Victoria, Australia, has six licence applications outstanding which includes one licence application lodged in eastern Victoria (Tambo gold project).

ECR also owns 100% of an Australian subsidiary ECR Minerals (Queensland) Pty Ltd which has three approved exploration permits covering 946 km2 over a relatively unexplored area in Lolworth Range, Queensland, Australia. The Company has also submitted a license application at Kondaparinga which is approximately 120km2 in area and located within the Hodgkinson Gold Province, 80km NW of Mareeba, North Queensland.

Following the sale of the Avoca, Moormbool and Timor gold projects in Victoria, Australia to Fosterville South Exploration Ltd (TSX-V: FSX) and the subsequent spin-out of the Avoca and Timor projects to Leviathan Gold Ltd (TSX-V: LVX), MGA has the right to receive up to A$2 million in payments subject to future resource estimation or production from projects sold to Fosterville South Exploration Limited. 

ECR Australia also has approximately A$75 million of unutilised tax losses incurred during previous operations.