Queensland Gold Projects
ECR Minerals holds a 100% interest in three project areas in Queensland, Australia – Lolworth, Blue Mountain and Kondaparinga.
History
Charters Towers gained fame as one of the richest goldfields globally during the late 1800s, contributing significantly to Queensland’s position as a major gold-producing state.
A major producer
Although less well known than Western Australia, Queensland has extensive history in gold production. The state’s gold mines are the country’s third largest producer.
Sustainability
Queensland has implemented stringent environmental regulations to ensure responsible mining practices and promote sustainable resource development.
Overview
A total of 1,047.5 km2 of exploration ground in Queensland is currently held.
The Company’s principal operations are centred around the Lolworth Project in North Queensland. Other exploration interests include the Blue Mountain Project in Central Queensland and ECR has also made an application for exploration ground at Kondaparinga, located in the famous Hodgkinson Goldfield district of North Queensland.
Geology
The Lolworth Range and surrounding terrain is a mix of at least four different rock-types ranging from the Early Ordovician through to Permian age. The oldest known rocks are known as the Cape River Beds and consist of sandstones and quartzites that have undergone little metamorphism through to gneisses and schists. These rocks host most of the known gold deposits within the Lolworth-Pentland area. The mid-Ordovician aged Ravenswood Igneous Complex intrudes the Cape River Beds and is an ‘I’ type granitoid thought to derive from a deep magmatic source.
LUX Exploration Pty Ltd considers the application area has high prospectivity for intrusive related minerals such as gold (Au) and Tin/Tungsten (Sn, W) from the following reasons:
- Past exploration has identified anomalous Au and Sn/W within the drainage lines of the Lolworth Range. No intensive follow-up exploration has been undertaken since identifying these anomalies.
- The recorded intrusive rock types of the area are complex enough to be prime foundations for the formation of intrusive-related ore deposits.
- These rock types have already been proven to host world-class ore deposits in the nearby area (Charters Towers, Mt Leyshon, Kidston etc…)
- Increase in metal prices combined with the current developments in the rest of the world highlight the economic opportunity for the North Queensland region.
Project Insight
Reedy Creek
Reedy Creek returned best rock chips of 22g/t with stream samples of 205 PPM.
Gorge Creek
Gorge Creek returned rock chips of 13.75g/t with stream samples of 1395 PPM.
Butterfly Creek & Oaky Creek
Butterfly Creek reported stream samples of 962 PPM.
First pass soil sampling show strongly elevated levels of Niobium within the centre of the sampled area. Previous high-grade Niobium and Tantalum results from sampling the drainage systems that originate from this elevated centre support the new soil sampling results within the anomalous area and bullseye identified.
Collaboration With JCU & GSQ
ECR is pleased to announce a collaboration agreement with James Cook University (“JCU”) in Queensland, a leading institution in science and engineering research, to further explore the potential for rare earth elements (“REE”) within the Company’s Lolworth Project area in Queensland.
ECR is also working in partnership with the Geological Survey of Queensland (“GSQ”) to further investigate the critical minerals .
Work Programme 2025
Planning for the 2025 work program in Queensland is well underway, we have identified a number of drill ready targets, we expect to commence drilling operations to start Q2 onwards.
All work is budgeted for, and funded.
Current exploration tenements
TENEMENT | PROJECT | AREA (KM2) | DATE GRANTED | EXPIRY DATE | TARGET COMMODITIES |
| EPM27901 | Lolworth | 300 | 01/02/2022 | 31/01/2027 | Gold and REE |
| EPM27902 | Lolworth | 300 | 01/02/2022 | 31/01/2027 | Gold and REE |
| EPM27903 | Lolworth | 300 | 01/02/2022 | 31/01/2027 | Gold and REE |
| EPM28910 (application) | Kondaparinga | 128 | Awaiting | – | Gold and Antimony |
| TOTAL (CURRENT) | 1047.5 |
Lolworth Project
The Lolworth Project is located 150 km west of the historically rich centre of Charters Towers in North Queensland.
The project is an aggregate of three exploration permits (EPM27901, EPM27902 and EPM27903). Lolworth is a recent exploration project, granted in 2022, and a total of 900 sub-blocks are currently held (approximately 900 km2 in total), covering the western end of the Lolworth Range. The area has seen little modern exploration despite the presence of gold in the nearby area.
The geological rocks of the Lolworth area are similar to the host rocks in the nearby gold rich provinces of Charters Towers and Ravenswood, that is a complex of schists and granite rocks that have undergone some degree of metamorphism. Parts of the project area also contain intruded pegmatites.
Exploration to date has identified multiple gold bearing streams within the area. The work has led back to potential sources of mineralisation at prospective locations known as Reedy-Butterfly Creek, Upper Gorge Creek and Flaggy Creek. Stream sampling has also shown the presence of Niobium- Tantalum, Neodymium and REE mineralisation with the best indicators at Oak Creek. ECR has identified the first targets for initial drilling and anticipates operations to begin Q2 2025 onwards.
Blue Mountain Project
The Blue Mountain project is a recent tenement acquisition. ECR Minerals purchased the tenement from Bluekebble Pty Ltd. in 2023, and it is located 95km south-west of the port of Gladstone in Central Queensland.
The project is within a region where gold and copper mineralisation are present. The project currently includes an alluvial gold deposit within Denny Gully, which is reported to contain upto and potentially over 100,000 ozs. The upper source regions of this alluvial deposit are of particular interest.
Bulk samples from Blue Mountain as part of the July 2024 test plant operations returned best results include 192.15 g/t, 97.40 g/t and 33.19 g/t Au within these concentrates.
In early October 2024 an Independent testwork report by Gekko was published.
Gekko Systems is a global leader in mineral processing solutions with a particular focus in gravity separation, intensive leaching and pre-concentration.
The company was established in 1996 by co-founders Elizabeth Lewis-Gray (managing director) and Sandy Gray (inventor, thought leader, Clunies Ross award winner and multiple #AusIMM award winner) and is still privately held.
Application: Kondaparinga Project
The license area, known as Kondaparinga (“Kondaparinga”), is approximately 120km2 in area and within the Hodgkinson Gold Province, 80km NW of Mareeba, North Queensland, Australia. The 3-year exploration term would include an expenditure commitment of AUD$487,000 over that period.
The Company’s geological team have examined other parts of the region for potential anomalous areas for gold, with this work being primarily based on the publicly available Queensland Government Geochemistry Database (QDEX). The exploration license application for Kondapringa EPM28910 was registered on 23 September 2023. The application will be assessed by government officials and work on the ground will not commence until the application has been granted.