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Additional Information

Market:	AIM
Sector:	Gold Mining
EPIC:	ECR
Latest Price:	0.51 (-8.11% )
52-week High:	2.55
52-week Low:	0.49
Market Cap:	3.71M

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ECR Minerals Full ECR Minerals profile here

ECR Minerals (formerly Electrum Resources) plc is a diversified mining investment company with quality assets and the capability to undertake significant, value accretive transactions. ECR Minerals is dedicated to creating value for its shareholders through a process of finding value, adding value and realising value. In order to achieve this, Electrum Resources is able to access a pipeline of projects sourced from its global network and utilises the expertise of its directors and advisers.

ECR Minerals holds interests in the USA, Argentina, Indonesia, Thailand and Australia.

ECR Minerals shares lifted by Copper Flat resource upgrade - UPDATE

Thursday, February 02, 2012 by Sergei Balashov

---Adds comments from broker Old Park Lane Capital---

Shares in ECR Minerals (LON:ECR, OTC:MTGDY) were lifted in late morning trade by news that its associate THEMAC Resources Group (CVE:MAC) has increased the copper resource for the Copper Flat project above 1 million pounds.

The copper-molybdenum-gold-silver project in New Mexico was sold by ECR – then known as Mercator Gold – through a deal agreed back in March 2010, in return for a 19 per cent stake in THEMAC.

ECR today relayed a statement by THEMAC in which the latter detailed the updated NI43-101 compliant resource estimate for Copper Flat.

ECR stock rose in reaction and by 11.37am, was trading up 5.22 per cent at 1.21 pence.

The measured and indicated resource now stands at 194 million tons of material grading 0.26 per cent copper, 0.008 per cent molybdenum, 0.002 ounces per ton gold and 0.05 oz/t silver.

The update has increased the amount of contained copper in the measured and indicated categories by 56 per cent over the previous estimate to 1.006 million pounds.

The Copper Flat orebody remains open and drilling is set to recommence in spring.

ECR Minerals managing director Patrick Harford said: “This is an excellent result for THEMAC and for ECR, and should substantively strengthen the economic case for the return of the Copper Flat deposit to production.”

“We feel confident that if Copper Flat continues to grow in scale and importance, as we expect it will, THEMAC has the capability to develop a copper mine with robust economics.”

ECR is a mineral development company with interests in Argentina, the USA, Indonesia, Thailand and Australia.

Broker Old Park Lane welcomed the “extremely encouraging” resource upgrade, claling it a key milestone for the project’s development. Analyst Phil Swinfen has made no change to his current Copper Flat net asset value (NAV) estimate of US$79 million, valuing ECR’s 19 percent stake at US$15 million.

However, the analyst said he will review the NAV when the results of the upcoming drill programme and the pre-feasibility study (PFS) are released.

Swinfen noted that in addition to a higher level of confidence, the new resource could significantly improve the economics of the project as it will serve as the basis for the upcoming PFS. In particular, said the analyst, the addition of gold and silver into the mix has increased the possibility of by-product credits during processing.

“The total contained one billion pounds of copper positions Copper Flat favourably within the global group of known porphyry deposits,” said Swinfen.

Swinfen added that the high grade core provides an opportunity for early development as a high grade starter pit, which could increase the net present value (NPV) of the project.

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