ECR Minerals PLC, the exploration and development company focused on gold in Australia, revealed that “encouraging” lithium, tantalum and niobium anomalies have been identified at the Lolworth Range project in North Queensland. 

ECR owns 100% of three exploration tenements - EPM27901, EPM27902 and EPM27903 - which cover the Lolworth Range, located 120- kilometres west of the famous gold district of Charters Towers. 

The project is being explored by ECR’s wholly-owned Australian subsidiary Lux Exploration Pty Ltd. 

The company said anomalous lithium (Li), tantalum (Ta) and niobium (Nb) results were recognised within the first round of results from the recent stream sediment sampling campaign undertaken at Lolworth. 

It said 30 samples have a lithium content greater than 1,000 parts per millon (ppm) (0.1%), while 15 samples have a niobium content greater than 500 ppm (0.05%) and seven samples are greater than 300 ppm (0.03%) in tantalum. 

The company is still awaiting results from a further 212 stream sediment samples. 

Earlier this month, ECR reported multiple gold anomalies from the first round of stream sediment results. 

“In our recent interview I stated how the early results from our 2022 Lolworth campaign were way in excess of my expectations,” commented ECR CEO Andrew Haythorpe in a statement. 

“In addition to the visible gold reported across a number of samples, the fact that the first batch of stream samples contain significant levels of lithium, tantalum and niobium is significant for ECR as an exploration company, as it adds a new dimension to our shareholder and investor proposition. It is still early days, but this first set of sample results is an exciting development for our company," he added. 

Haythorpe said ECR “laid some great foundations for our shareholders in 2022, and our board are excited by the potential for further discoveries across our projects in 2023”.