ECR Minerals PLC (LON:ECR) has unveiled immediate plans to advance the Avoca and Bailieston gold projects in Victoria, Australia, which are being acquired via its Mercator Gold subsidiary.
The planned activity, which is already funded, is expected to take place in May and June.
“The programmes are, in the case of the Avoca project, intended to generate the data needed to move the project towards production as rapidly as possible,” said Stephen Clayson, chief executive.
“In the case of Bailieston, it is hoped that the proposed drilling will confirm the strong exploration potential indicated by historical data and more recent surface mapping and sampling. Updates will be provided to the market as progress is made.”
At Avoca, the company said its objective will be to demonstrate the reprocessing historical waste dumps for gold, as well as saleable gravel and sand by-products.
It will carry out a resource estimate for the dumps, and that will involve some sampling work, and metallurgy testing will be necessary.
The company will also prepare an economic study of the proposed project, and that will set out the anticipated capital requirements as well as the timescales needed to deliver production.
Meanwhile at Bailieston drilling is planned, for up to 1,000 metres, to test the Byron and Black Cat areas