19 June 2025

ECR MINERALS PLC

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

Queensland operations update

ECR Minerals plc (LON: ECR), the exploration and development company focused on gold in Australia, is pleased to provide an update on its Queensland operations, with significant progress at the Blue Mountain gold project ("Blue Mountain") and an upcoming drilling programme at the Lolworth gold and rare earths project ("Lolworth"). The Board believes that these developments mark key milestones in advancing the Company's future exploration and production objectives.

Highlights

Blue Mountain

•   Drilling rig to be mobilised with bulk sampling and prototype wash plant testing ongoing, with the objective to demonstrate recovery and revenue potential

•    Expanded work programme to assess larger-capacity wash plant and production partnerships, aiming to support long-term operational scalability

Lolworth

•     Drill-ready gold targets defined at Gorge Creek West, Uncle Terry, and Gorge Diggings, with drilling set to commence in July 2025

Blue Mountain Project

The Blue Mountain Project is advancing rapidly, with a contracted drilling rig set to be mobilised and moving to site before the end of June 2025. ECR's Chief Geologist, Adam Jones, and the technical team are expected to arrive on site by 23 June 2025 with a fully modified wash plant prototype and are expected to immediately commence operations. This phase will focus on bulk sampling and testing our revised wash plant modifications to optimise the Company's future alluvial mining model. This is expected to provide critical data on gold recovery and revenue potential. The drilling programme is specifically designed to test the depth to bedrock to enable a clearer understanding of the project's geological potential. Holes are envisaged to be of 3 - 5 metres depth on gridlines across the core areas of the alluvial resource. No representative sampling program is envisaged but the presence of alluvial gold will be logged to guide the program. The bulk sampling campaign will analyse the expansion, scalability, and recovery potential of the project, with drilling also targeted at areas where ECR intends, in due course, to commence operations. These efforts are a critical step in advancing towards production, de-risking the project, and building confidence in its long-term commercial viability.

The team has also scheduled a review of a larger-capacity wash plant and associated heavy equipment at a nearby location, aligning with ECR's strategy to scale operations and explore production partnerships.

Lolworth Gold and Rare Earths Project

ECR is also preparing for an exploration campaign, in what is targeted to be a significant advance at Lolworth, that is expected to take place between July and August 2025. Following extensive soil and stream sampling, drill-ready gold targets have been identified at Gorge Creek West, Uncle Terry, and Gorge Diggings, with Butterfly Creek as a potential additional target. A minimum of 1,500 metres of percussion drilling is planned, using a rig capable of 100 millimetre diameter holes to depths of at least 100 metres. The programme, set to commence in mid-July and conclude in August 2025, will focus on near-surface gold mineralisation up to depths of 70 metres depth, optimising cost-effective intercept density. Previous surface sampling at Uncle Terry returned grades of up to 75.6 g/t Au, with accompanying silver-lead mineralisation.

ECR continues its collaboration with James Cook University and the Queensland Geological Department's Critical Minerals division to advance rare earth elements (REE) exploration, with a focus on Niobium-Tantalum mineralisation at Oaky Creek and the ridgeline zone, where past sampling yielded results up to 146 ppm Nb. Historical alluvial mining evidence suggests significant downstream gold potential, which remains untested by modern exploration methods, which the Board believes present a compelling opportunity for exploration.

Charters Towers Presentation

ECR's Chief Geologist, Adam Jones, will present the Company's Queensland portfolio at the regional exploration forum in Charters Towers on 28 June 2025. This event will highlight recent achievements and strategic objectives, reinforcing ECR's growing presence in this historically productive mining region.

Corporate Update

ECR remains on budget and on schedule across its operations. Importantly, the under-budget completion of the recent Bailieston drilling campaign has provided flexibility to accelerate activities in Queensland. Final results from the antimony drilling programme at Bailieston are expected in the shorter-term.

The progress from our recent projects is increasing the awareness of ECR in Australia with both prospective counterparties and investors. We are reinforcing this by renaming our two Australian subsidiaries ECR Minerals (Australia) Pty Limited and ECR Minerals (Queensland) Pty Limited as the previous names did not directly identify them as ECR group companies.

Managing Director, Mike Whitlow, commented: "The next two months are expected to be pivotal for ECR. We are pleased with the strong progress at Blue Mountain, where the arrival of the drilling rig and our modified wash plant marks a pivotal step towards demonstrating the Blue Mountain project's production potential. The drilling programme will test bedrock depth and provide critical insights into the scalability, recovery potential, and potential expansion opportunities, laying the groundwork to move towards operational commencement and advancing our production story. We consider that the team's dedication to refining our mining model is laying a robust foundation for the future. Equally exciting is the upcoming drilling programme at Lolworth, which targets high-grade gold prospects and builds on several years of high-quality surface exploration. These developments underscore ECR's commitment to delivering value for shareholders and advancing our strategic objectives in Queensland."

ECR's Chief Geologist, Adam Jones, added: "At Blue Mountain, we're advancing towards production, whilst de-risking the project and building confidence in its gold potential. At Lolworth, we're poised to drill untested, high-grade gold targets in a geologically underexplored region, with the potential for significant discoveries."

Review of Announcement by Qualified Person

This announcement has been reviewed by Adam Jones, Chief Geologist 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.

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ABOUT ECR MINERALS PLC

ECR Minerals is a mineral exploration and development company. ECR's wholly owned Australian subsidiary ECR Minerals (Australia) Pty Ltd 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 ECR Minerals (Queensland) Pty Ltd which has three approved exploration permits covering 946 km² over a relatively unexplored area in Lolworth Range, Queensland, Australia. The Company has also submitted a license application at Kondaparinga which is approximately 120km² in area and located within the Hodgkinson Gold Province, 80km NW of Mareeba, North 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), MGA 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 Minerals (Australia) Pty Ltd also has approximately A$75 million of unutilised tax losses incurred during previous operations.

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