Significant Research & Development Refund

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- 

ECR MINERALS plc
(“ECR Minerals”, “ECR” or the “Company”)

SIGNIFICANT RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT REFUND

ECR Minerals plc (LON: ECR), the precious metals exploration and development company, is pleased to provide an update in respect of a significant cash refund received by ECR’s wholly owned Australian subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia Pty Ltd (“MGA”) under the Australian government’s R&D Tax Incentive scheme.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• ECR’s 100%-owned Australian subsidiary MGA has received a cash refund of research and development (R&D) expenditure of AUD 555,212 (approximately £295,515);
• The qualifying activities pertain to research into turbidite-hosted gold deposits within MGA’s exploration licences in Victoria, Australia;
• In addition, as at 30 September 2019, MGA had carried forward corporate income tax losses of AUD 66,341,587 (approximately £35.3 million) which are expected to be available for offset against future taxable gains.

Craig Brown, Chief Executive Officer, commented: “I am very pleased to announce the receipt of this cash refund by MGA, which provides a significant boost to the group’s cash position.

The gold price remains strong and we believe there is considerable and growing interest in respect of Australian gold exploration, and we have also observed strong interest in the Victorian goldfields where we have an active exploration portfolio.

Overall, the board believes the additional cash creates exciting opportunities for an entrepreneurial gold-focused company like ECR.”

FURTHER INFORMATION

The refund received relates to qualifying expenditure made by MGA in the fifteen months ended 30 September 2019. The accounting period is fifteen months long rather than the usual twelve months as MGA’s financial year-end has been changed to 30 September from 30 June in order to align it with the rest of the ECR corporate group.

MARKET ABUSE REGULATIONS (EU) No. 596/2014

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 (MAR). Upon the publication of this announcement via Regulatory Information Service (RIS), this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

ECR Minerals plc	Tel: [phone]
David Tang, Non-Executive Chairman
Craig Brown, Director & CEO
Email: [e-mail]
Website: www.ecrminerals.com
WH Ireland Ltd	Tel: [phone]
Nominated Adviser
Katy Mitchell/James Sinclair-Ford
SI Capital Ltd	Tel: [phone]
Broker
Nick Emerson

ABOUT ECR MINERALS PLC

ECR is a mineral exploration and development company. ECR’s wholly owned Australian subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia Pty Ltd has 100% ownership of the Avoca, Bailieston, Creswick, Moormbool and Timor gold exploration projects in central Victoria, Australia and the Windidda gold project in the Yilgarn region, Western Australia.

ECR has earned a 25% interest in the Danglay epithermal gold project, an advanced exploration project located in a prolific gold and copper mining district in the north of the Philippines. An NI43-101 technical report was completed in respect of the Danglay project in December 2015 and is available for download from ECR’s website.

ECR’s wholly owned Argentine subsidiary Ochre Mining has 100% ownership of the SLM gold project in La Rioja, Argentina. Exploration at SLM has focused on identifying small tonnage mesothermal gold deposits which may be suitable for relatively near-term production.