Engineer Gold Mines Ltd. (TSX-V: EAU | OTC: EGMLF | WKN: A3EEVJ) has announced the start of its 2026 Phase I exploration program on its 100% owned Engineer Gold Project, located 30 kilometres southwest of Atlin in northwestern British Columbia. The project encompasses 18,319 hectares across a 25-kilometre contiguous claim block, hosting the historic Engineer Gold Mine, the TAG Property, the Wann River Prospect, and numerous additional mineral occurrences.
The Phase I program includes soil and rock sampling at the Engineer Mine area, soil geochemistry, and an in-depth core review and resampling at the TAG Property. The company is fully permitted to follow this with a Phase II program consisting of diamond drilling, excavator trenching, and induced polarization geophysical surveys in the Engineer Mine area. Phase II plans will be announced once finalized.
At the Engineer Gold 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 three kilometres south of the past-producing mine. An expanded soil and rock sampling program is underway to further define these targets.
At the TAG Property, six kilometres north of the Engineer Mine, the Phase I program includes a rigorous core review and infill core sampling of 11,520 metres of diamond drilling from 69 holes completed between 2006 and 2008. Recent on-site core re-examination revealed that several drill intercepts crossing the mineralized trend were not fully sampled, and in some instances, samples were not collected adjacent to significant gold values. Once infill sampling is completed, a detailed model will be produced to target potential expansion of gold mineralization and facilitate an updated resource estimate for TAG. Additional soil geochemical sampling will also be completed, as prior results indicated anomalous gold and silver values uphill from known mineralization, suggesting a potential subparallel second mineralizing structure.
The Engineer Project hosts multiple styles of mineralization, including high-grade epithermal gold-silver veins, polymetallic veins, and structurally controlled bulk tonnage style gold systems. The historic Engineer Gold Mine was a past-producing underground operation with historical production between 1910 and 1952 totalling approximately 14,263 tonnes grading 39.4 g/t gold and 19.5 g/t silver (BC Minfile 104M014). A historical inferred mineral resource, completed in 2011, estimated 25,000 ounces of gold at a grade of 19 g/t for the Engineer and Double Decker veins, but this estimate should not be relied upon as a current mineral resource.
The TAG Property is associated with a six-kilometre-long structurally controlled mineralized system related to splays off the Llewellyn Fault. Significant historical drill intervals include hole TAG06-23 with 1.7 g/t Au over 26.7 metres, and hole TAG08-59 with 1.5 g/t Au over 42.1 metres. The Wann River Prospect, located four kilometres 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.
The Phase I program is designed to advance these targets and demonstrate the mineral potential of the property. The company is fully permitted for subsequent phases, which could include drilling and geophysical surveys. The results of this program will guide further exploration and potentially enhance the project's value.
