ECR Minerals PLC (AIM:ECR) said it is "zeroing in on areas with high potential" as it carries out rock chip sampling at the Lolworth project in Queensland, Australia.
A total of 74 rock chips were taken from outcropping pegmatites in the niobium (Nb) stream catchment area forming part of the upper end of the project's Oaky Creek area, with results of up to 96.7 parts per million (ppm) Nb recorded, along with results across a further 12 samples all greater than 50 ppm Nb.
Work is ongoing collecting further rock chip samples, with the board expressing the belief that the combination of previous soil sample results and follow-up rock chip samples could lead to a potential source of mineralisation.
A further batch of samples from streams on the western and southern side of Reedy Creek contained some that showed visible gold, ECR said.
Lolworth Range, where the exploration and development company owns 100% of three exploration tenements, is located 120km west of the famous gold district of Charters Towers and previous exploration in 2021 identified the presence of gold, niobium-tantalum and rare earth mineralisation.
Chief executive Andrew Haythorpe said: “Exploring and mapping a large area of virgin territory requires an organised and disciplined approach, but it is rapidly becoming evident that thanks to the diligence of our field team, we are zeroing in on areas with high potential at Oaky Creek and Reedy Creek. I look forward to reporting further news in the coming weeks.”
The field team has now moved further to the south of the project area to follow up gold-bearing drainages, the company said, and a programme of further defined soil sampling has been undertaken across the best previous results which will be analysed for Nb this month.
Management believes these results will guide to better outcrops, that can in turn be followed up with rock chip sampling to confirm the presence of Nb.
The company said the timing of this work is governed by cattle mustering activities in the area, but is expected to be completed within the next few weeks.
Separately, a large rock chip programme is scheduled to begin "shortly" at the Hurricane Project, located 400km north of Lolworth.