American Eagle’s NAK Discovery Builds Scale, Grade and Open-Pit Potential

• Americcan Eagle Gold's drill hole NAK26-87 delivered a rare kilometre-long, from-surface copper-gold intercept, the longest ever drilled at NAK.
• Another drill hole, NAK26-89, opened a brand-new southern target area along the Babine stock margin, extending the South Zone 250 metres to the east.
• The South Zone footprint has grown to 700 metres by 600 metres and remains open to more than 800 metres depth.
• American Eagle is fully funded through 2028 and backed by strategic shareholders Teck, South32 and Eric Sprott.
• A maiden mineral resource estimate and PEA are targeted for 2027, setting up the next major re-rating catalysts.

American Eagle Gold Corp. (TSXV:AE | OTCQB:AMEGF) has spent the past month delivering the kind of results copper-gold explorers rarely produce: a full kilometre of continuous mineralisation from surface, and a fresh step-out that has opened an entirely new area of interest along the southern margin of its Babine porphyry stock. For a market increasingly focused on where the next large-scale, low-strip copper discovery will come from, American Eagle's NAK project in British Columbia's Babine Porphyry District is putting up a strong case.

The company is roughly a fifth of the way through an approximately 80-hole, 55,000-metre drill programme that runs through April 2027, with three rigs turning continuously. Two results released in August - NAK26-87 and NAK26-89 - have both expanded the known high-grade South Zone and opened a new southern target area, giving investors fresh reasons to pay attention ahead of a planned 2027 mineral resource estimate and preliminary economic assessment.

Project Overview

NAK sits 85 km from Smithers in British Columbia's Babine Porphyry District, 4.5 km north of the Hearne Hill South Property and close to the historic Bell and Granisle mines, which produced for more than 30 years under previous ownership. The property benefits from gently sloping terrain, road access, rail, power and water - infrastructure advantages that set it apart from more remote copper-gold projects elsewhere in the province. American Eagle has also built its own road into the property, reducing reliance on the helicopter-supported drilling it used in earlier years.

The company holds an Exploration Agreement with the Lake Babine Nation, signed in August 2023, which confirms the Nation's consent for a five-year exploration programme and its participation in environmental baseline work. Lake Babine Nation members make up a large proportion of the NAK exploration team, a relationship CEO Anthony Moreau has pointed to as a meaningful advantage relative to a nearby but undeveloped deposit that lacks similar community support.

Financial Metrics

American Eagle is well capitalised for the scale of its current programme. As at early July 2026, the company had approximately 205 million shares outstanding, a share price of $1.12, and a basic market capitalisation of roughly $230 million. Cash on hand was reported at $55 million in the company's Q3 2026 investor presentation, with the company separately citing approximately $50 million in cash in its most recent news release - a figure that should be reconciled against the latest financial statements before publication.

Insiders and strategic shareholders control 53% of the register. South32 holds a 19.9% strategic equity stake, Teck holds 12.9%, and Eric Sprott holds 9.5%. Moreau has said the company has not completed a financing involving warrants in more than three years, and management describes the current cash position as sufficient to fund the company through to 2028.

Latest Drill Results

NAK26-89, reported on 25 August 2026, returned 411 metres of 0.43% copper equivalent (CuEq) from 47 metres downhole, within a broader interval of 880 metres of 0.30% CuEq. The hole connects with NAK25-62's 140 metres of 0.74% CuEq, extending near-surface mineralisation approximately 250 metres east of the South Zone. It marks the season's first test of the southern margin of the Babine porphyry stock - ground the company describes as among the least drilled and most prospective at NAK - and follows up NAK23-09, the so-called "Teck Hole" drilled in 2023. American Eagle has now dedicated one of its three rigs to this southern stock area for the foreseeable future.

That result followed an even larger one a week earlier. NAK26-87, reported 18 August 2026, intersected 1,001 metres of 0.46% CuEq starting at surface, including 218 metres of 1.01% CuEq - the longest mineralised intercept ever drilled at NAK, and a rare kilometre-scale, from-surface intercept by any global standard. The hole stepped out 150 metres northwest of NAK25-78, which had itself returned 802 metres of 0.71% CuEq from surface, including 375 metres of 1.01% CuEq. Three further holes drilled westerly across the main zone trend - NAK26-84, -86 and -88 - returned broad, consistent copper intercepts that extend the mineralised footprint to the north and west, with positive implications for future pit design and strip ratio.

Taken together, the results have expanded the South Zone's mapped footprint to more than 700 metres east-west by 600 metres north-south, with a high-grade core extending to over 800 metres depth. Management believes the zone remains open both to the east near surface and to the northwest at depth.

Interview with Anthony Moreau, CEO, American Eagle Gold

Competitive Positioning

American Eagle's core pitch to investors rests on combining bulk tonnage with high-grade zones - a model the company likens to Highland Valley, where lower-grade material feeds a mill alongside higher-grade ore. In the South Zone, CEO Anthony Moreau explained the read-through from the latest hole:

"It changes things significantly. The eastern part of our main zone - our South Zone - it's a high-grade zone, around 0.5 to 1% copper equivalent, and this is kind of going to be the centre of gravity for the company, for the project. And right over here, it's a very sparsely drilled area - we've probably put three or four holes there. Hole 89 is extending east, so extending the South Zone around 250 metres. And to have that grade coming from the surface has a significance for the potential economics of the project moving forward."

Road access, existing infrastructure and a five-year community agreement with the Lake Babine Nation give American Eagle a cost-of-capital advantage the company argues is scarce elsewhere in British Columbia's Golden Triangle region, where comparable projects can cost more than twice as much to build.

Catalysts

American Eagle has reported results from just six of the roughly 80 holes planned for the 2026-2027 season, with the company describing assay turnaround times as unusually slow given what it calls the busiest drilling season British Columbia has experienced. Investors should expect a steady cadence of further assay releases through to April 2027, when the current drill season concludes, followed by a maiden mineral resource estimate and a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) beginning in mid-2027. A ten-sample metallurgical test programme is also underway, feeding directly into that PEA work.

On the company's approach to news flow, Moreau was direct about the strategy behind the pacing of releases:

"We try to put out news at least every three or four weeks. We want the holes to tell a story. We don't want to live or die by any drill hole. We're a $260 million company. We don't need cash. We want to prove this out. Look, I'm a CEO. We're storytellers. We're dream sellers. We're trying to explain how we're trying to turn this into a mine."

Investment Thesis

• NAK26-87 and NAK26-89 together expand the South Zone footprint to over 700 m x 600 m and open a new southern target area along the Babine stock margin, materially growing the addressable exploration target.
• A kilometre-long, from-surface intercept (NAK26-87) is a rare result globally and supports a bulk-tonnage, low-strip open-pit development thesis.
• The company is fully funded through 2028, removing near-term dilution risk while the 55,000-metre programme runs.
• Strategic ownership by Teck (12.9%), South32 (19.9%) and Eric Sprott (9.5%) signals sophisticated third-party validation and reduces overhang risk, as none of these holders have sold since investing.
• A maiden MRE and PEA are targeted for 2027 - the next major re-rating catalysts for a stock that has already moved from roughly 2.5 cents to over $1 in under four years.
• Watch for assay results from the newly dedicated southern stock zone rig, which could confirm or extend the 250-metre eastward step taken by NAK26-89.
• Risk: with no resource estimate yet filed, valuation currently rests on drill-hole continuity assumptions rather than confirmed tonnage and grade.

Macro Thematic Analysis

Copper's structural supply story continues to underpin generalist interest in porphyry exploration, and gold's multi-year run has added a second layer of investor demand to Cu-Au projects specifically. American Eagle's own CEO frames NAK as sitting at the intersection of both trends rather than being purely a bet on one metal. Asked directly about the balance between the two metals, Moreau put it plainly:

"I'm very bullish on gold... All the macro things point that it's going to continue to go up. I'm also extremely bullish on copper. I think copper and gold are the two best commodities to be in."

That dual exposure matters for how the market prices NAK. In the South Zone, roughly 60% of the copper equivalent value currently comes from gold and 40% from copper (plus a small molybdenum and silver contribution), while the North Zone skews closer to 75% copper. This means American Eagle can credibly be read either as a gold discovery with a copper by-product or a copper project with meaningful gold credits - a positioning the company has deliberately chosen not to simplify, having previously seen its stock reprice negatively after switching its reporting basis to gold equivalent on a prior release. For investors, that flexibility is part of the appeal: NAK offers torque to two of the more crowded generalist trades in the sector simultaneously, road-accessible and near infrastructure, in a jurisdiction with an active, engaged First Nations partner already under agreement.

TL;DR

American Eagle Gold's NAK project in British Columbia has delivered two standout results within a month: NAK26-87, a kilometre-long, 1,001-metre intercept of 0.46% copper equivalent from surface (including 218 m at 1.01% CuEq), and NAK26-89, a 411-metre, 0.43% CuEq hit that opens a new southern target along the Babine stock margin. The South Zone now spans over 700 m by 600 m and extends past 800 m depth, still open in multiple directions. Fully funded through 2028 with $50-55 million in cash and strategic backing from Teck, South32 and Eric Sprott, American Eagle is roughly a fifth of the way through an 80-hole, 55,000-metre programme running to April 2027, ahead of a targeted 2027 maiden resource estimate and PEA.

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