UK-based ECR Minerals plc (AIM: ECR) has significantly expanded its land holdings in the area surrounding the Windidda project in Western Australia – which is held by ECR’s wholly owned Australian subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia Pty Ltd (MGA).
Chief Executive Officer, Craig Brown, revealed that MGA has been granted four exploration licences in the north-eastern Yilgarn region of Western Australia.
The licences form part of the Windidda project, which is now considered to be potentially prospective for komatiite hosted Ni-Cu-PGE as well as orogenic gold.
Mr Brown said MGA has commissioned a consultant to complete additional geophysical modelling and review of historical activity reports for areas to the south of Windidda in order to better understand the potential prospectivity of the project.
“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,” Mr Brown said.
“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.”
Mr Brown said MGA has commissioned a consultant to complete the following work in order to better understand the potential prospectivity of the Windidda project and the depth of cover.
The work will include a review and assessment of all historical activity reports for relevant areas to the south of the Windidda project, including reports filed by North Ltd, BHP/Western Mining Corporation and Rox Resources Ltd.
The consultant will also undertake modelling of newly identified airborne gravity data which partially covers two of the Windidda exploration licence applications.
This data is additional to that modelled last year, and the results can be assessed and related to the previous magnetic modelling on equivalent lines.
Mr Brown said recent preliminary research into the geological setting of the project suggests that the southern parts are potentially prospective for komatiite hosted nickel-copper-PGE (platinum group element) mineralisation.
Approximately 12km from the southernmost exploration licence application at Windidda, Rox Resources Ltd has estimated a JORC (2012) Inferred Mineral Resource of 573,000t at 1.63% nickel, 1.19% copper, 0.082% cobalt, 1.49 g/t palladium and 0.85 g/t platinum for the Olympia deposit within Rox’s Collurabbie project.
In late 2018, MGA 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.
