ECR Minerals (AIM:ECR) told investors that metal-detector prospecting across a 2,100-metre north-south zone incorporating the Brothers Mining Licence has recovered gold nuggets at 26 sites, ranging from 0.1g to 12.3g.
The gold-focused explorer, which operates in Australia, said the strongest results came from Brothers Creek, which drains directly into the alluvial mining area of the licence.
The Brothers Mining Lease sits within the wider Maddens Flat Group of Mines in North Queensland, where ECR holds a 50% interest and is already advancing underground development at the nearby Maddens Underground Mine. Field observations show the alluvial material at Brothers consists predominantly of loose sand and gravel with clay content, which the board believes may suit gravity-based trial processing, though systematic bulk testing is needed before any conclusions on recoverable grades.
Equipment acquired through the Raglan transaction is being redeployed to the Maddens Flat area, giving ECR heavy earth-moving and processing machinery to support trial mining and bulk sampling without building a new operating fleet.
Initially work will focus on systematic bulk sampling and trial wash runs within the Brothers alluvial zone, aimed at establishing representative recovery data and the economic parameters for potential gold recovery.
Technical Director Mike Parker said the terrain's steep weathering profile gives the company confidence that the hard-rock source of the gold lies upstream and in side creeks, calling it "a fertile area for gold localisation in veins as we have seen in many other localities at Maddens Flat Group of Mines."
Chairman Nick Tulloch said the company is "deliberately taking a measured approach," with the next step being a move from prospecting to representative bulk sampling and trial processing to understand recoveries, grade distribution and potential scale.
Prospecting will continue westwards into Elliot Creek, named after prospector Sam Elliot, which drains an area of old workings identified in the company's 2026 drone LiDAR surveys and considered one of the most isolated and underexplored parts of the Maddens Exploration Licence.
Beyond the alluvial target, the Brothers Project also contains historic underground workings, part of the broader hard-rock potential ECR described in its April announcement covering the acquisition of Paleogold, now renamed ECR Minerals (Paleogold) Limited.
Tulloch said the company expects further updates on production at the nearby Maddens Underground Mine "in the coming weeks."