Announcement • Jul 15
American Eagle Gold Corp. Reports First Drill Result of 2026 Exploration Program At Nak Copper-Gold Porphyry Project
American Eagle Gold Corp. reported the first drill result of the 2026 exploration program at its 100%-owned NAK copper-gold porphyry project in British Columbia's Babine district. Hole NAK26-83 returned 154 m of 1.21% CuEq within a broader interval of 280 m of 0.96% CuEq from surface, extending the South Zone high-grade core 100 m to the north. The broader zone of mineralization encountered in NAK26-83 returned over 800 metres of 0.49% CuEq from surface. NAK26-83 adds to a series of wide, from-surface intercepts in the South Zone, including two of the last holes reported from the 2025 season: NAK25-78 (802 m of 0.71% CuEq from surface, including 375 m of 1.01% CuEq) and NAK25-80 (618 m of 0.77% CuEq from surface). These holes, together with NAK26-83, define a coherent, high-grade zone that begins at surface and remains open at depth. NAK26-83 is the first of approximately 80 holes planned for the 2026 campaign, the largest drill program in American Eagle's history and one of the largest underway in British Columbia. The program is fully funded from cash on hand and will run through the seasons, supporting consistent news flow for the next year as assays are received and verified. The 2026 program has three objectives: expand the near-surface, higher-grade zones; execute large step-outs, which have been evaluated, planned, and are now being drilled; and build the drill density required to support future technical studies. NAK sits at low elevation with favourable topography and highway and road access to the property. This season, the Company has reactivated a network of historical exploration trails on the property and is permitted to construct additional exploration trails that will fully support the needs of an expanded program. This allows drills to move between targets by ground, virtually eliminating the need for helicopter support. The result is faster drill moves, lower cost per metre, and the ability to drill year-round. NAK26-83 was designed to follow up on the strong results from NAK25-80, drilling similarly to the southwest, but collaring from approximately 200 m to the northeast, and to the north of the core of the near-surface, gold-rich South Zone. From surface down to almost 500 m the drill hole encountered variably altered dykes of Babine stock affinity that cut screens or lenses of clastic sedimentary rocks close to the contact of the Babine porphyry stock itself. Both are cut by common quartz-chalcopyrite veins and zones of locally dense disseminated chalcopyrite. Downhole of the zone of dyking, the sedimentary rocks host locally similar dark potassic alteration assemblages to those present in NAK25-80, including biotite and magnetite, but with less common dyking, more common finer-grained host clastic rocks, and only locally strong chalcopyrite +/- bornite mineralization. NAK26-83 Assay Results (Table 1): Hole NAK26-83, From 8 m, To 323 m, Length 315 m, Cu 0.36%, Au 0.65 g/t, Ag 1.5 g/t, Mo 194 ppm, CuEq 1.21%; within NAK26-83, From 8 m, To 293 m, Length 210 m, Cu 0.30%, Au 0.64 g/t, Ag 1.3 g/t, Mo 159 ppm, CuEq 1.12%; within NAK26-83, From 66 m, To 324 m, Length 247 m, Cu 0.27%, Au 0.60 g/t, Ag 1.1 g/t, Mo 142 ppm, CuEq 1.04%; within NAK26-83, From 33 m, To 328 m, Length 280 m, Cu 0.25%, Au 0.56 g/t, Ag 1.1 g/t, Mo 130 ppm, CuEq 0.96%; within NAK26-83, From 338 m, To 480 m, Length 810 m, Cu 0.16%, Au 0.25 g/t, Ag 0.7 g/t, Mo 77 ppm, CuEq 0.49%. Copper Equivalent (CuEq) values shown in Tables for drill intercepts are calculated on the basis of USD 4.50/lb for Cu, USD 3,375/oz for Au, USD 60/oz for Ag and USD 25/lb for Mo, with 80% metallurgical recoveries assumed for all metals (since it is unclear what metals will be the principal products, assuming different recoveries is premature at this stage). The formula is: CuEq = Cu % + (Au grade in g/t x (Au recovery /Cu recovery) x [Au price ÷ 31] /[Cu price x 2200 x 1%]) + (Ag grade in g/t x (Ag recovery /Cu recovery) x [Ag price ÷ 31] /[Cu price x 2200 x 1%]) + (Mo grade in % x (Mo recovery /Cu recovery) x [Mo price] /[Cu price]). The assays have not been capped. The reported intervals represent drill intercepts, and insufficient data are available at this time to state the true thickness of the mineralized intervals. Sampling at NAK follows a rigorous methodology and internal QA/QC protocol. Drill core is halved onsite, and samples are submitted to ALS Geochemistry in Langley, British Columbia, for preparation and analysis. ALS is accredited to the ISO/IEC 17025 standard for assays. All analytical methods include quality control standards inserted at set frequencies. The entire sample interval is crushed and homogenized, and 250 g of the homogenized sample is pulped. All samples were analyzed for gold, silver, copper, molybdenum, and a suite of 45 other major and trace elements. Analysis for gold is by fire assay fusion followed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) on 30 g of pulp. Silver, copper, molybdenum, and all other major and trace elements are analyzed by four-acid digestion followed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). Internal QA/QC protocols dictate that individual core samples are no less than 70 cm and no greater than 3 m in length. To control standard, blank, and duplicate sample frequency, and to better constrain pass/fail re-analysis intervals, samples are submitted to the lab in 50-sample batches. Within each 50-sample batch, there is one gold-copper standard and two coarse reject duplicates, inserted at regular intervals, and two blank samples, inserted sequentially following well-mineralized samples where possible, for a total of 10% QA/QC samples.