ECR Minerals plc (AIM: ECR) has agreed to acquire Paleogold Limited (private) for a total consideration of up to A$10.6 million (£5.2 m). Paleogold owns interests in a portfolio of gold projects located in Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia (Figure 1). The most significant interest is a 50% interest in the six Maddens Flat Mines, which have a non-compliant mineral resource estimate of 6,322 ounces of gold. This is a relatively small resource base, but it was compiled in 1999 and is based partly on known unexploited blocks. ECR believes there is potential to discover additional zones of mineralisation beyond these blocks. The project also comes with existing infrastructure, including a camp, processing plant, tailings dam, three freshwater dams, workshop, and storage sheds. The transaction will also see ECR acquire a 20% interest in the Salt Bush Flat Gold Mine, which has been estimated by the owners to contain over 10,000 ounces of gold. ECR believes there is potential to extend the mineralisation along strike, with additional potential for parallel veins. ECR will also acquire Paleogold’s 80% interest in the Tuckanarra Project, an early-stage gold exploration project, located in proximity to Odyssey Gold’s (ASX:ODY) 407,000 oz Tuckanarra Gold Project.
