ECR Minerals (ECR) has signed farm-in and joint venture agreements with Bold Gold Resources to fund up to A$3 million of exploration at the Creswick Gold Project in Victoria, Australia.
Under the staged earn-in structure, Bold Gold will spend a minimum A$250,000 for exploration during an initial 12-month option period.
Following completion of the option period, Bold Gold may elect to earn a 51% interest in Creswick by sole-funding a further A$1.0 million in exploration expenditure over the following two years.
Thereafter, Bold Gold may elect to earn an additional 29% interest, taking its total interest to 80%, by sole-funding a further A$1.75 million in exploration expenditure.
The agreements remain conditional on the renewal of two exploration licences, EL006907 and EL006184, which form part of the Creswick licence area. ECR said the parties will work together to secure the renewals, with Bold Gold covering reasonable third-party costs associated with the applications.
Creswick is located about 20 kilometres north of Ballarat within the Victorian goldfields and hosts a significant portion of the Dimocks Main Shale, a gold-bearing geological structure extending for about 15 kilometres.
Previous ECR drilling has intersected high-grade gold mineralisation along the structure, including results exceeding 20 grams per tonne gold. Despite these results, the company said only a limited portion of the wider target corridor has been tested using modern exploration techniques.
The partnership is expected to provide third-party funding to advance Creswick while allowing ECR to focus on its wider Australian portfolio, including the Maddens Gold Project in northern Queensland. ECR will also retain exposure to future exploration success through its remaining interest and potential royalty pathway.
ECR Chairman Nick Tulloch said: "We are delighted that the legally binding Agreements have now been agreed and executed, marking an important milestone both for the Project and for ECR shareholders.
"Since announcing the proposed joint venture concept last year, we have worked closely with the Bold Gold team to finalise documentation that provides a clear pathway for substantial exploration investment at Creswick. We are pleased to have now reached this point and we look forward to seeing activity commence on the ground."
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The agreement gives ECR a potentially valuable funding partner for Creswick while reducing the company's direct exploration burden. With the project already showing high-grade gold intersections, further funded exploration could help establish the scale and potential of the underexplored Victorian asset.