ECR Minerals PLC (AIM:ECR) has secured a pathway for up to A$3 million of exploration spending at its Creswick Gold Project in Victoria after executing legally binding conditional farm-in and joint venture agreements with Bold Gold Resources Pty Ltd.
The staged agreement allows Bold Gold to earn up to an 80% interest in Creswick by funding exploration, while enabling ECR to retain exposure to future discoveries and direct capital and management attention towards other Australian assets.
Bold Gold has committed to spend at least A$250,000 during an initial 12-month option period.
It can then earn a 51% interest by sole-funding a further A$1 million over the following 2 years, taking total expenditure to A$1.25 million.
A further A$1.75 million of spending could lift Bold Gold’s stake to 80%, bringing total expenditure to A$3 million. No project interest will be earned until the A$1.25 million expenditure threshold has been reached.
Creswick lies around 20 kilometres north of Ballarat in Victoria’s goldfields and contains a 15-kilometre Dimocks Main Shale gold-bearing structure.
Previous ECR drilling along the corridor has returned gold intersections exceeding 20 grams per tonne, while only a limited part of the broader target has undergone systematic modern exploration.
ECR said third-party funding at Creswick would allow it to maintain its focus on other Australian projects, particularly the Maddens Gold Project in northern Queensland.
The farm-in remains conditional on renewal of exploration licences EL006907 and EL006184, which expire in 2026. Bold Gold will cover reasonable third-party costs associated with securing the renewals.
ECR said it would provide a further update once the licences are renewed and the farm-in agreement becomes unconditional.
