Proactiveinvestors Australia

ECR Minerals plc is a mineral development company with interests in Argentina, the USA, Indonesia, Thailand and Australia. Our projects and interests encompass a range of commodities with a particular focus on gold and base metals.ECR shares are listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange with the symbol ECR and are also traded on PLUS Markets. ECR’s American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) are traded in the USA on an over the counter (OTC) basis with the symbol MTDGY.

Projects and Investments:

ACS Asia:

Asia-Pacific Focused Metal Products Business

ECR holds a 70% economic interest in ACS Asia, an Asia Pacific focused metal products business with a modern facility in Rayong, Thailand.

ACS Asia’s core product lines are electrical and mechanical support systems, for use with cables and pipes within major structures. Significant buyers of these products include the mining, infrastructure and general large commercial construction sectors.

Sierra de las Minas and Los Aquirres Projects 

ECR holds a 100% interest in the Sierra de las Minas and Los Aquirres gold/base metal project areas in La Rioja Province, Argentina.

The Sierra de las Minas project area covers approximately 75,000 hectares with numerous historic small scale gold mining areas, and the Los Aquirres project area extends over approximately 5,000 hectares and is located around 50km due north and along strike from Sierra de las Minas.

The primary style of mineralisation in the Sierra de las Minas project area is mesothermal/epithermal gold, frequently with copper and silver. A large quantity of data is available from previous exploration.

Exploration targets identified within the Sierra de las Minas project area may offer scope for the definition of high grade, smaller tonnage deposits suitable for early development to production.

Key prospects within the Sierra de las Minas project area include the El Abra historic small scale gold mine, which comprises three exploitation concessions covering approximately 18 hectares; ECR also holds an additional exploitation concession approximately 10km away.

Mineralisation at El Abra occurs as quartz veins from a few centimetres to a few metres wide and locally containing very high gold values. The altered margins are also auriferous, and the combination of veins and margins has been worked to widths of several metres in some areas.

A 2011 surface geochemical sampling programme at the El Abra prospect confirmed the presence of high grade gold mineralisation hosted within and in association with approximately 900m of outcropping gold-bearing quartz veins. High grades including 80.78, 44.98 and 39.74 g/t gold were obtained.

ECR holds 100% exploration rights to the Sierra de las Minas project area and 100% exploitation rights to a number of prospects within it, including the El Abra prospect.

Drill rig in operation at El Abra gold prospect 

Paniai Gold & West Wits Mining

Proposed Alluvial Gold Mining Operations and Exciting Regional Exploration Possibilities 

in Papua Province, Indonesia

ECR holds 100 million shares in Paniai Gold Ltd, a private Australian company founded as a vehicle for the Derewo River gold project in Papua Province, Indonesia. ECR’s shareholding is equivalent to approximately 26% of Paniai’s issued share capital.

In July 2011, Paniai sold its interest in the Derewo River project to West Wits Mining Ltd (ASX: WWI) for a package of ordinary shares, performance shares and options. ECR holds approximately 11.1M West Wits ordinary shares following a distribution by Paniai, which retains solely the performance shares and options received from West Wits.

The Derewo River project consists of more than 128,000 hectares of mining and exploration tenements. The project was established as a joint venture between Paniai and a local party. Paniai’s 50% interest has been assumed by West Wits, which can increase its interest in exploration activities to 80%.

Large amounts of gold have been extracted at Derewo River in recent years by local miners using only primitive techniques. The objectives of the Derewo River project are to establish a more sophisticated alluvial gold mining operation and to explore a wider area for alluvial and hardrock deposits. Exploration targets include large scale alluvial gold, porphyry gold-copper and bonanza grade quartz sulphide gold veins.

Indonesia’s Papua Province is arguably one of the world’s most prospective areas for mineral exploration, and the Derewo River project is located approximately 100km from the Grasberg copper-gold mine operated by Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold.

Silver Swan Group

An ASX Listed Base Metals Exploration Company Active in Western Australia

ECR holds 4 million performance shares of Silver Swan Group Ltd. These convert to ordinary shares if Silver Swan identifies JORC Indicated Mineral Resources of 350,000oz gold equivalent or more on mineral tenements in Western Australia that were acquired from ECR in 2008.

Silver Swan has made a volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) type copper-zinc-gold-silver discovery, the Austin deposit, on former ECR tenements, and exploration is continuing.

THEMAC Resources Group - (TSX-V: MAC)

THEMAC Resources Group Ltd has 100% ownership of the Copper Flat project, a former producing mine with major civil infrastructure still in place located 150 miles south of Albuquerque. Copper Flat is a copper-molybdenum-gold-silver porphyry deposit with a high grade breccia core.

In March 2011, THEMAC acquired ECR’s exclusive option over a 100% ownership interest in the Copper Flat project, giving ECR a 19% shareholding in THEMAC (22% fully diluted).

THEMAC has completed an NI43-101 compliant preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the project, and a prefeasibility study is underway. Permitting for the return of the project to production has commenced.

THEMAC intends to return the Copper Flat mine to production, subject to successful negotiation of the necessary feasibility, financing and permitting stages.

Ariel view of the Copper Flat project in New Mexico,USA

Warm Springs Renewable Energy Corporation

Proposed Solar Power Development in New Mexico

Warm Springs Renewable Energy Corporation (WSREC), a subsidiary of ECR, evaluating an opportunity to develop a solar power plant in New Mexico, USA in conjunction with the proposed restart of the Copper Flat copper-molybdenum-gold-silver mine being developed by THEMAC Resources Group Ltd, in which ECR has a substantial interest.

Patrick Harford

Managing Director

Patrick Harford was appointed Managing Director on 22 March 2004. He graduated with Honours in Geomorphology from Melbourne University in 1973.

Past senior management roles include:

Grants Patch Mining (Managing Director), which operated a 10Mt gold tailings retreatment operation in Western Australia producing 750,000oz gold

Zapopan (Managing Director), which participated in the discovery and development of the Mt Todd and Tanami gold mines in Australia’s Northern Territory

Auridiam Consolidated, which developed the 2Mtpa River Ranch diamond mine. The River Ranch mine produced in excess of 500,000 carats per annum

Stephen Clayson

Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer

Stephen Clayson has been Chief Financial Officer of ECR since September 2010, and was extensively involved in the Company’s affairs for some two years prior to his appointment as Chief Financial Officer. He has acquired substantial experience in the mineral exploration and development sector and in the operations of listed companies since 2006.

Keith Irons

Non-Executive Chairman

Keith Irons is currently Chairman of Bridgecreek Resources Ltd, a private company developing onshore oil & gas interests in the USA (including New Mexico). He has a background in mineral economics and brings with him extensive experience of the minerals and energy industries gained through more than 40 years’ involvement, including 17 years as Chairman of Bankside Consultants Ltd, an independent financial public relations and investor relations consultancy, having founded the business in 1991. He previously held senior corporate roles with the Anglo American group (Minorco SA and Charter Consolidated), Blue Circle Industries, Rio Tinto, Amax/Roan Selection Trust and more recently in several junior companies.

Paul Johnson

Non-Executive Director

Mr Johnson has been an active investor for more than 20 years and is a co-founder of MiningMaven, an investor communications service focused on the natural resources sector. His previous roles have included Business Risk Consulting Group Manager for FM Global and Regional Director for Capita McLarens.

Mr Johnson is a Chartered Accountant (England & Wales, 1996), an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters (2000) and of the Chartered Insurance Institute (2005) as well as a Member of the Business Continuity Institute (2007). He holds a BSc (Hons) in Management Science (1991) from UMIST School of Management, Manchester, UK.

Richard Watts

Non-Executive Director

Richard (Dick) Watts is currently a Principal Mining Consultant for Turgis Consulting and was formerly also a Principal Mining Consultant for SRK UK. In addition, Mr Watts has held a variety of senior operational roles on gold, copper and coal mines in Africa (South Africa and Zambia), Russia and Central Asia (Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan).

Specifically these roles have included Chief Operating Officer of Trans-Siberian Gold with responsibility for the development of a remote underground gold project in far eastern Russia; General Director of the Amantaytau Goldfields project in Uzbekistan for Oxus Gold during the feasibility, construction, commissioning and initial production stages; and General Manager of several South African coal mines for Anglo American.

Mr Watts is a fellow of the South African Institute of Mining & Metallurgy and holds a B.Eng (Mining) from the University of Sheffield along with a Mine Manager's Certificate (South Africa) and a First Class Certificate of Competency (UK mine manager's qualification).