ECR Minerals (ECR) has conditionally raised £1.5 million by way of a placing with institutional and other investors of nearly 600 million shares at a price of 0.26p.
The new money will be used to finalise preparations to bring the Blue Mountain gold project in Queensland into production, and to undertake exploration at the Lolworth and Bailieston projects.
Separately, ECR’s Raglan gold project is due to go into production shortly.
Accordingly, cashflow from Raglan combined with the new money should mean that ECR is fully funded for all plans significantly beyond 2026.
In the medium to longer term, ECR believes that the cashflow potential from gold production from the Raglan project, once fully operational, has the potential to cover all of the company's overheads and bringing Blue Mountain into production. It also has the potential to support ECR's currently contemplated future exploration and development operations.
"Today's £1.5 million Fundraising is a major step forward for ECR and we are delighted by the backing received from institutional investors,” said Nick Tulloch, ECR's chairman.
“This support reflects confidence in both our strategy and our progress as we establish ECR as a multi-site gold company. Our immediate focus is on near-term production. At the Raglan project, with an operating team now secured, the board expects initial gold this month. The Blue Mountain project, which represents a significantly larger opportunity, continues to validate its commercial potential following last year's drilling and wash-plant work, and we are advancing our preparations for development.”
View from Vox
There’s much to like inside the ECR portfolio these days - two projects moving towards gold production, one likely to come online within a month, plus significant multi-metal potential on the wider exploration portfolio. Add in a tasty A$76 million of tax losses to offset against future production profits and ECR looks like it will be steering strongly into the current favourable gold price environment.