Echo Energy plc announced the acquisition, via the Company's 50%-owned Peruvian joint venture, Boku Resources SAC, of the Ana Lucia polymetallic concession in the Ancash region of central Peru. The Ana Lucia Project consists of a group of concessions, approximately 80 km from the city of Huaraz, that cover 2,100 hectares and were previously owned by Compañía Minera Ares SAC, part of Hochschild Mining PLC. Boku has acquired the Ana Lucia Project for an administrative fee of approximately USD 36,000, plus a Net Smelter Return (NSR) Royalty of 1% payable from production.

The NSR is effectively capped at $10,000 as Boku has an exclusive option to remove the NSR with a single payment of $10,000. The Ana Lucia Project comprises a system of 17 identified quartz-tourmaline breccias which contain lead, zinc sulphides with anomalous silver, and gold. The largest of the breccias already found has dimensions of up to 200 m x 45 m with surface samples grading 0.6 g/t Au, 20 g/t Ag, and 0.2% Pb.

The area remains highly prospective for further discoveries in the opinion of Boku's management and given local precedence. The Ana Lucia Project is considered by Boku's management to be comparable to both the Soledad Project, belonging to Chakana Copper Corp., located 30 km to the north, and the formerly operating Cerro Bayo mine (PRIV) which lies only 1 km from Ana Lucia. Breccia bodies like these tend to occur in clusters with the pipes having a small surface expression but often, with a large vertical extent, can be very high-grade and can coalesce at depth making them attractive targets.

The Soledad Project is a good example and is formed from a system of multiple quartz-tourmaline breccias. It has a defined underground Inferred Resource of 4.8 Mt at 0.72 g/t Au, 61 g/t Ag, and 0.97% Cu, plus an additional Inferred Open Pit Resource of 1.9 Mt at 1.29 g/t Au, 37.1 g/t Ag, and 0.65% Cu (2022, CIM Standard for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves 2014) following over 60 km of drilling. The former Cerro Bayo Minealso hosts several breccia bodies with an Inferred Resource of approximately 7 Mt and dimensions of 160 m x 60 m (source: Internal technical note prepared by Compañía Minera Ares SAC.).

The owner previously carried out a 90 t/d small-scale mining operation with average grades of 8% Pb, 300 g/t Ag, <1% Cu, and 0.4% Zn which operated for over 10 years and closed in the last 4 years, and the small-scale mining option is one that Boku sees could, with additional work, potentially be applied to the Ana Lucia Project.