LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - ECR Minerals has announced significant operational progress across its Queensland portfolio on Thursday, with drilling imminent at both its Blue Mountain and Lolworth gold projects as it advanced toward potential near-term production.
At Blue Mountain, a drilling rig was scheduled to be mobilised before the end of June, with bulk sampling and testing of a modified prototype wash plant set to begin immediately.

The AIM-traded firm said the campaign would focus on demonstrating gold recovery and revenue potential from alluvial material, alongside drilling to determine bedrock depth across key areas of the project.

"We are pleased with the strong progress at Blue Mountain, where the arrival of the drilling rig and our modified wash plant marks a pivotal step towards demonstrating the project's production potential," said managing director Mike Whitlow.

At the same time, ECR said it was preparing to begin a 1,500-metre percussion drilling programme at its Lolworth gold and rare earths project between July and August.

Drill-ready targets have been identified at Gorge Creek West, Uncle Terry, and Gorge Diggings. Previous sampling at Uncle Terry returned grades of up to 75.6 grams of gold per tonne, with accompanying silver-lead mineralisation.

The Lolworth campaign would use a rig capable of 100mm-diameter holes to depths of at least 100 metres, targeting shallow gold mineralisation up to 70 metres in depth to optimise cost-effective coverage.

Butterfly Creek had also been identified as a potential future target.

"At Blue Mountain, we're advancing towards production, whilst de-risking the project and building confidence in its gold potential," commented ECR's chief geologist Adam Jones.

"At Lolworth, we're poised to drill untested, high-grade gold targets in a geologically underexplored region."

The company said it was also progressing rare earth exploration in collaboration with James Cook University and the Queensland Geological Department, with a focus on niobium-tantalum mineralisation at Oaky Creek and the ridgeline zone, where sampling has returned up to 146 parts per million niobium.

ECR said it was on budget and on schedule across its operations, with recent under-budget completion of drilling at Baillieston allowing acceleration of Queensland activities.

Final results from Bailieston's antimony programme were expected shortly.

The company also announced the renaming of its Australian subsidiaries to ECR Minerals Australia and ECR Minerals Queensland, to better align with corporate identity.

Jones would present the company's Queensland portfolio at a regional exploration forum in Charters Towers on 28 June, highlighting recent milestones and strategic plans.

"These developments underscore ECR's commitment to delivering value for shareholders and advancing our strategic objectives in Queensland," Whitlow concluded.

At 1549 BST, shares in ECR Minerals were up 25.71% at 0.22p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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