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(Sharecast News) - ECR Minerals said in an update on Tuesday that it is moving closer to near-term gold production in Queensland as it awaited assay results from its 2025 drilling programme at the Lolworth and Blue Mountain projects, while advancing the acquisition of the Raglan Project and reviewing its wider exploration portfolio.
The AIM-traded company said it drilled almost 400 holes across the Blue Mountain project's Lower Patterson, Windmill and Upper Kariboe Creek areas during July and August, confirming visible gold in multiple zones.
Preliminary results announced in September indicated extensive mineralisation at Lower Patterson, with further assays due this month.
At the Lolworth project, 28 holes were drilled across the Uncle Terry and Gorge Creek West prospects to depths of up to 42 metres, with samples also awaiting laboratory results.
ECR said wash plant trials at Blue Mountain have delivered encouraging visual indications of gold recovery from both high- and low-grade material.
The results appeared to support the company's theory that coarse gold, not always detected in drill samples, may be more widespread across the alluvial deposit.
ECR said it expected to complete analysis of the bulk samples shortly and planned to submit a mining lease application for Blue Mountain in the fourth quarter as the next step toward production and cashflow generation.
At the Raglan Project, the firm said legal documentation for the proposed AUD 1.01m (0.5m) acquisition of Raglan Resources, which holds the licence ML 3665, was now "very advanced", with completion expected this month.
Discussions were also underway with a prospective production partner to enable gold mining to commence "within a relatively short time" after completion.
The company said it was continuing to assess opportunities to streamline its exploration portfolio, including ongoing discussions for a proposed joint venture with Bold Gold over the Creswick Gold Project in Victoria.
Its board said it was also evaluating interest in other tenements to ensure management resources remained focused on the highest-impact projects.
"It may have been relatively quiet on the news front for ECR in the past few weeks but, behind the scenes, it has been a very busy period for us," said chairman Nick Tulloch.
"All samples from the Queensland drilling campaigns are now in the laboratory for analysis, as are the outputs from the wash plant trials at Blue Mountain.
"The administrative tasks of preparing to produce gold, initially at Raglan once this proposed acquisition has been completed and then nearby at Blue Mountain, are also well advanced."
He added that the company believed it was "undergoing a transformation" from explorer to producer, with the forthcoming assay results set to "shape our plans in this regard" at Blue Mountain.
"Meanwhile we continue to work towards the conclusion of our proposed acquisition of the Raglan project where we anticipate commencing production relatively quickly after completion."
At 1541 GMT, shares in ECR Minerals were up 4.88% at 0.22p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.