Mercator Gold, a 100%-owned subsidiary of ECR Minerals PLC (LON: ECR), has been granted four exploration licences in the Yilgarn region of Western Australia.
The licences form part of the Windidda project, which is considered to be prospective for komatiite hosted nickel, copper and platinum group elements, as well as orogenic gold.
Mercator has commissioned a consultant to complete additional geophysical modelling and review of historical activity reports for areas to the south of Windidda.
“ECR has had a busy start to the year, with work in progress in relation to the Windidda project in Western Australia, which is now considered to be potentially prospective for nickel-copper-PGE mineralisation as well as orogenic gold, and planning underway for fieldwork in the Bailieston gold project area in Victoria to commence in February,” said ECR’s chief executive Craig Brown.
“We also continue to review a number of potential new projects and strategic developments for the company, and will of course provide updates to the market as appropriate.”
Approximately 12 kilometres from the southernmost exploration licence application at Windidda, Rox Resources Ltd has a resource of 573,000 tonnes at 1.63% nickel, 1.19% copper, 0.082% cobalt, 1.49 grams per tonne palladium and 0.85 grams platinum.
In late 2018, Mercator applied for a total of nine exploration licences to comprise the Windidda project, of which four have now been granted. The remaining five licence applications are subject to objections to the expedited grant procedure from native title parties. MGA is considering its options in this regard, and may decide to rationalise the Windidda tenement package in light of the native title objections and the findings of ongoing technical work.