Engineer Gold Mines Ltd. (TSX-V: EAU | OTC: EGMLF | WKN: A3EEVJ) announced that its 2026 Phase I exploration program is now underway on its 100% owned Engineer Gold Project, located 30 kilometres southwest of Atlin in northwestern British Columbia. The property covers 18,319 hectares and includes the historic Engineer Gold Mine, the TAG Property, the Wann River Prospect, and numerous other mineral occurrences. This news is important because it signals the company's commitment to advancing its gold assets through systematic exploration, with the potential to delineate new resources and expand known mineralization.
The Phase I program comprises soil and rock sampling at the Engineer Mine, soil geochemistry, and an in-depth core review and resampling at TAG. The company is fully permitted to follow this with a Phase II program that may include diamond drilling, excavator trenching, and induced polarization geophysical surveys in the Engineer Mine area. Phase II plans will be announced once finalized. The Engineer Project hosts multiple mineralization styles, including high-grade epithermal gold-silver veins, polymetallic veins, and structurally controlled bulk tonnage style gold systems.
At the Engineer Mine, Phase I work aims to expand high-grade gold mineralization and adjacent bulk tonnage targets along strike of previously identified structural corridors, Shear A and Shear B. These structures have been traced by geophysics and geochemistry for over 3 kilometres south of the past-producing mine. The expanded soil and rock sampling program is designed to test these extensions.
On the TAG Property, located 6 km north of the Engineer Mine, Phase I includes a rigorous core review and infill core sampling program. From 2006 to 2008, a total of 11,520 metres of diamond drilling in 69 holes was completed at TAG (Fekete and Simper (2009), Fekete and Skinner (2007); ARIS reports #30931 and #29581). Recent on-site core re-examination indicated that several drill intercepts crossing the mineralized trend were not fully sampled, and samples were not collected adjacent to those hosting significant gold values. Once infill and expanded core sampling is completed, a detailed model of TAG results will be produced to target areas for potential expansion of gold mineralization and to facilitate completing an updated resource estimate. Additional soil geochemical sampling will also be completed, as prior sampling returned anomalous gold and silver values uphill from known mineralization, suggesting the potential for a subparallel second mineralizing structure.
The historical Engineer Gold Mine was an underground gold-silver operation with production between 1910 and 1952 totaling approximately 14,263 tonnes grading 39.4 g/t gold and 19.5 g/t silver (BC Minfile 104M014). A historical inferred mineral resource from 2011, based on a 5.0 g/t gold cut-off, estimated 25,000 ounces of gold at a grade of 19 g/t (Snowden, 2011, amended 2018). However, a Qualified Person has not done sufficient work to classify this as current mineral resources, and the company is not treating it as such.
The TAG Property is associated with a 6 km long structurally controlled mineralized system. Significant historical drill intervals include hole TAG06-23 with 1.7 g/t Au over 26.7 m, and hole TAG08-59 with 1.5 g/t Au over 42.1 m (Fekete and Simper (2009), Fekete and Skinner (2007); ARIS reports #30931 and #29581). The Wann River Prospect, 4 km south of the Engineer Mine, represents an orogenic gold target and has returned significant values, including a quartz grab sample of 263 g/t gold and 1,350 g/t silver from the Lum showing (Aspinall (2011); ARIS Report #32004). Historic drilling in 2011 returned intercepts such as 11.3 g/t Au over 1 m in hole WR030211.
Linda Dandy, P.Geo., is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical content in this news release. The company is fully financed for the 2026 programs and is positioned to unlock value across its project portfolio.
