Engineer Gold Mines Ltd. (TSX-V: EAU | OTC: EGMLF | WKN: A3EEVJ) announced that its 2026 Phase I exploration program is underway at its 100% owned Engineer Gold Project, located 30 kilometers southwest of Atlin in northwestern British Columbia. The project covers 18,319 hectares and includes the historic Engineer Gold Mine, the TAG Property, and the Wann River Prospect, along with numerous other mineral occurrences. This news marks a significant step for the company as it seeks to expand known mineralization in a region with a rich mining history.
The Phase I program consists of soil and rock sampling at the Engineer Mine, along with soil geochemistry and in-depth core review and resampling at the TAG property. 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. Details of Phase II will be announced once finalized. These efforts are critical for identifying new targets and potentially increasing the resource base at the project.
The Engineer Gold Project hosts multiple styles of mineralization, including high-grade epithermal gold-silver veins, polymetallic veins, and structurally controlled bulk tonnage style gold systems. The Phase I program at the Engineer Mine is designed to expand high-grade gold mineralization and adjacent bulk tonnage targets along previously identified structural corridors, Shear A and Shear B. These structures have been traced by geophysics and geochemistry for over three kilometers south of the past-producing mine. An expanded soil and rock sampling program will be conducted to refine targets for future drilling.
At the TAG property, located six kilometers north of the Engineer Mine, the work includes rigorous core review and infill core sampling. From 2006 to 2008, 11,520 meters of diamond drilling in 69 holes was completed at TAG, as reported in ARIS reports #30931 and #29581. Recent on-site re-examination has indicated that several drill intercepts crossing the mineralized trend were not fully sampled. Once infill and expanded core sampling is completed, a detailed model will be produced to target areas for expansion of gold mineralization and to facilitate an updated resource estimate. Additionally, soil geochemical sampling will be conducted to follow up on anomalous gold and silver values that suggest a potential subparallel second mineralizing structure.
The historical Engineer Gold Mine produced approximately 14,263 tonnes grading 39.4 g/t gold and 19.5 g/t silver between 1910 and 1952 (BC Minfile 104M014). A 2011 historical inferred mineral resource estimate, based on a 5.0 g/t gold cut-off, indicated 25,000 ounces of gold at a grade of 19 g/t (Snowden, 2011, amended and restated in 2018, O’Brien et al – www.sedarplus.ca). However, the company is not treating this as a current resource, and a thorough review by an independent qualified person, along with additional drilling, is required to confirm results.
The TAG property has significant historical drill intervals, including hole TAG06-23 which assayed 1.7 g/t Au and 5.1 g/t Ag over 26.7 m, and hole TAG08-59 which assayed 1.5 g/t Au and 8.05 g/t Ag over 42.1 m (ARIS reports #30931 and #29581). The Wann River prospect, four kilometers south of the Engineer Mine, represents an orogenic gold target and has returned grab samples of 263 g/t gold and 1,350 g/t silver from the Lum showing (ARIS Report #32004).
The company is fully funded for the current program and expects to release Phase II plans once finalized. The results from this exploration could significantly impact the project’s future development.
