ECR MINERALS plc

("ECR Minerals", "ECR" or the "Company")

Extension of option to acquire the Hurricane Project

Encouraging First Round Rock Chip Results

ECR Minerals plc (LON: ECR), the exploration and development company focused on gold in Australia, is pleased to announce an extension to its option to acquire Placer Gold Pty Limited, the owner of the Hurricane Project, as well as the latest exploration developments at the project. The Hurricane Project is located approximately 200km west of Cairns in North Queensland, Australia.

HIGHLIGHTS

·      4-week extension of deadline to exercise the option to 26 October 2023 allows ECR further time to analyse and review the project.

·      Discussions to date with the vendors have also set an expectation that ECR will propose revised terms and conditions to the option.

·      125 Rock chip results have been received for the first batch of laboratory samples that cover the Tornado, Cyclone and part of the Holmes vein systems.

·      Best results include a gold equivalent of 31.3 g/t Au and 30.13 g/t Au (Holmes). 28 of the results have gold values greater than 2 g/t Au. All samples from outcrop.

·      The strategic critical mineral, Stibnite (Antimony Sulphide) has been visible in samples taken from the Holmes veins.

An Overview of the location of the rock chip sample and vein systems can be found below:

Figure One: https://www.ecrminerals.com/images/2023/Fig1_Hurricane_231002

EXTENSION OF OPTION TO ACQUIRE Placer Gold Pty Limited

On 27 October 2022, ECR announced that it had been granted an option to acquire the entire issued share capital of Placer Gold Pty Limited ("Placer Gold") (the "Option"), the beneficial holder of three granted mining tenements (EPM 27518, EPM 25855 and EPM 19437) located in NE Queensland, together known as the Hurricane project ("Hurricane Project" or "Hurricane").

As drafted, if the Option is exercised, the purchase price is made up of cash and share payments, in part based on certain milestones being reached as well as a future royalty.  Full details are set out in the announcement of 27 October 2022.  The deadline for ECR to exercise the Option was 30 September 2023 but, through negotiations with the vendors, the Company has secured a four week extension to 26 October 2023.

During this time it is the Board's intention to thoroughly analyse the merits of the Hurricane Project against the costs of purchase and development to assess the value to the Company and its shareholders.  As explained below, work is already underway in this respect. Discussions to date with the vendors have also set an expectation that ECR will propose revised terms and conditions to the Option.

EXPLORATION DEVELOPMENTS

Further to the Company's announcement on 21 September 2023, the ECR technical team has been conducting an infield technical survey of the Hurricane project tenements to establish the prospectivity of gold and antimony mineralisation. The mineralised vein systems currently established at Hurricane are known as the Holmes, Tornado, Cyclone, Pedersons, Bouncer, Typhoon and the Hurricane North and South.

During the month of August 2023, outcrop mapping and rock chip sampling was completed as part of the due diligence process. The objective was to confirm previous results from historic rock chip sampling and to map the extent of outcrop. To date, ECR has received the following information and data for the Tornado, Cyclone and part of the Holmes veins. The position of the veins in relation to each other are shown in Figure One above.

HOLMES VEIN

The Holmes vein is the dominant vein system at the Project. Not only is gold present within the vein, Antimony (present as Stibnite) is visible and has been seen numerous times in outcrop. The Holmes vein consists of at least two main quartz stockwork zones up to 10m wide and is bounded on the western edge by a shear zone up to 1m in width and can be traced along strike for at least 300m. The best Antimony values are obtained close to this shear. To date, ECR has only received the results for a limited number of surface outcrops sampled, with these situated adjacent to and along strike of the shear zone. Best results include 8.19 g/t Au and 7.67 g/t Au and Antimony values up to 29% (290000 ppm Sb).

A gold equivalent value has been calculated by converting the present price of Antimony to the equivalent value in g/t Au. The estimated equivalent value being 3 g/t Au for every 1% Sb (Antimony), and this calculation is similar to the current formulae used by other Australian producers of Gold and Antimony. This would convert the best Antimony results to 31.3 g/t Au and 30.13 g/t Au Eq.

The importance of Antimony is well documented. As one of the listed critical metals, there are limited current sources of Antimony in the western world.

TORNADO VEIN

Previous rock chip sampling by the Bannister Group Pty Ltd. included results up to 17.6 g/t Au. The eastern end of the outcrop also previously returned the best results up to 6.88 g/t Au. ECR geologists re-sampled these zones and have verified the eastern end of the Tornado vein to contain the best values with best results to include 6.95 g/t Au and 5.05 g/t Au

CYCLONE VEIN

The Cyclone vein can be traced in outcrop along the surface for a distance of approximately 500m in strike. The southern end of the outcrop is at its widest point of around 4 metres in width while the northern end thins out to less than 1 metre in width. Sampling work has recovered the best results from a section of the northern outcrop where rock chips taken across the width have returned 0.3m @ 4.65 g/t Au and 0.3m @ 3.93 g/t Au. ECR is awaiting further results from the southern and widest part of the vein.

NEXT STEPS

The Board will continue to evaluate the prospectivity of the project and report these findings as more information is received. The Hurricane results are consistent with the positive visual references noted by the team on the ground and both the field team and the Board believe that this part of Queensland is highly prospective. Further updates will be provided in due course as required.

REVIEW OF ANNOUNCEMENT BY QUALIFIED PERSON

This announcement has been reviewed by Adam Jones, Technical Director of Exploration at ECR Minerals plc. Adam Jones is a professional geologist and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (MAIG). He is a qualified person as that term is defined by the AIM Note for Mining, Oil and Gas Companies.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

ABOUT ECR MINERALS PLC

ECR Minerals is a mineral exploration and development company. ECR's wholly owned Australian subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia Pty Ltd ("MGA") has 100% ownership of the Bailieston and Creswick gold projects in central Victoria, Australia, has six licence applications outstanding which includes one licence application lodged in eastern Victoria (Tambo gold project).

ECR also owns 100% of an Australian subsidiary LUX Exploration Pty Ltd ("LUX") which has three approved exploration permits covering 946 km² over a relatively unexplored area in Lolworth Range, Queensland, Australia. The Company also has an option to acquire 100% of Placer Gold, which wholly owns the Hurricane Project, a later stage gold and antimony project located west of Cairns in the Hodgkinson Province, NE Queensland.

Following the sale of the Avoca, Moormbool and Timor gold projects in Victoria, Australia to Fosterville South Exploration Ltd (TSX-V: FSX) and the subsequent spin-out of the Avoca and Timor projects to Leviathan Gold Ltd (TSX-V: LVX), Mercator Gold Australia Pty Limited has the right to receive up to A$2 million in payments subject to future resource estimation or production from projects sold to Fosterville South Exploration Limited.

ECR holds a 90% interest in the Danglay gold project; an advanced exploration project located in a prolific gold and copper mining district in the north of the Philippines, which has a 43-101 compliant resource. ECR also holds a royalty on the SLM gold project in La Rioja Province, Argentina and can potentially receive up to US$2.7 million in aggregate across all licences.

APPENDIX ONE

Table One: All results from the rock chip sampling programme, arranged by prospect and highest to lowest value Au g/t Au. (- denotes no result), Locations stated in GDA94 Z55 grid.