Cambria Gold Mines Inc. (TSXV: CAMB) (OTC Pink: AOTVF) announced the commencement of infill drilling at the Company’s Premier Gold Project (“PGP“) in northwestern British Columbia. Cambria has planned 27,000 meters of underground and surface diamond drilling to upgrade resource confidence and to inform development planning as the Company works toward its plan to restart mining operations. The Company is of the opinion that inadequate drill spacing density was a major factor in the difficulties encountered at Premier prior to the site entering care and maintenance.
Drilling has commenced at the Premier-Northern Lights (“PNL“) deposit, proximal to the 2,500 tonne per day mill facility. Drilling has commenced from surface and will be closely followed by underground drilling of the Prew Zone on 12.5 meter centers, targeting high-grade ore shoots that are well-documented by historic mining operations at the Premier Mine. The drill results will be used to develop detailed internal mine plans and future Mineral Resource updates (see Figures 1 and 2).
“We are excited to commence this infill drilling program at the Premier Gold Project. The primary objective of this drilling is to provide the necessary sample spacing and geological confidence to upgrade Mineral Resources and Reserves, as well as accurately define future mining zones proximal to the recently commissioned mill facilities,” said Robert McLeod, President and CEO of Cambria. “Once delineated, our plan is to blend or batch process ore from these deposits with high-grade ore trucked from the nearby Red Mountain Deposit.”
Drilling is expected to commence at the Big Missouri deposit in the spring. This work may include infill drilling of near-surface zones potentially amenable to open pit mining as well as areas with potential for larger scale open stoping in areas proximal to existing underground workings developed in 2023 and 2024.
Cambria is currently reviewing newly received drill assay results from 2024 and 2025 programs at the Premier Gold Project; assays were held due to the Company’s inability to pay invoices in 2025 prior to the recent recapitalization. These results are expected to be released shortly and are to be included in an updated Feasibility Study planned for H2 2026.
Quality Assurance and Quality Control
The Company adheres to CIM Mineral Exploration Best Practices Guidelines for exploration related activities conducted on its property. Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) procedures are overseen by the Qualified Person.
Analytical testing for core samples from the 2026 drill program will be performed by ALS Canada Ltd. in North Vancouver, British Columbia and sample preparation will occur at dedicated preparation facilities operated by ALS Canada Ltd. The entire sample will be crushed to 70% passing 2mm (10 mesh), of which a 1000 gram split will be pulverized to 85% passing 75 microns (200 mesh). Gold testing will be determined by conventional fire assay with a 50g charge weight and an atomic absorption finish up to 100ppm (Au-AA26). A 50 gram fire assay with gravimetric finish will also be completed above 100ppm (Au-GRA22). Metallic screen analysis may be considered for high-grade gold samples. Silver and multi-element analyses will be determined by four-acid digest with an inductively Coupled Plasma OES or AES finish (ME-ICP61), with ore grade silver being completed by the overlimit four acid digest method with conventional ICP-AES finish up to 1500 ppm (Ag-OG62) and by 30g fire assay with gravimetric finish above 1500 ppm (Ag-Gra21).
Cambria will be implementing several changes to the sample preparation and analytical protocols previously used by Ascot. For the 2026 field season, the crush split size will be increased from the 250g split used by Ascot to a 1000g split. This change will provide a significantly larger and more representative subsample for pulverization and analysis. In addition, Cambria will request crush duplicates and pulp duplicates at a rate of 1 in 20 samples to enable monitoring of subsampling precision and nugget effect. Implementation of half core duplicates by Cambria will replace the former practice of quarter-core duplicates implemented by Ascot. Changes to the fire assay method will also be implemented; the fire assay charge weight will be increased from 30g (Au-AA23) to 50g (Au-AA26) for the 2026 season to improve variance. Overlimit fire assays will also be increased to 50g, from Au-GRA21 to Au-GRA22. The analytical methods for silver and multielement data will remain as established by Ascot. A new source of coarse blank material has been identified for the 2026 program, to replace the carbonate-rich blank material used by Ascot in prior years.
Cambria Gold Mine’s QA/QC protocols for the 2026 drill program will continue to include the insertion of certified reference material (standards), coarse blanks and field duplicates within the sample stream. A program of secondary lab checks will be implemented with an accredited laboratory to confirm initial results.
Cambria’s drill core will be cut in-half with a diamond saw, with one-half placed in sealed bags and shipped to the laboratory and the other half retained on site. Chain of custody is maintained from the drill to the submittal into the laboratory preparation facility.
Figure 1: Plan map showing 2026 primary infill drilling target areas at the Premier-Northern Lights deposit
Figure 2: Example of planned underground infill drilling at Prew Zone at Premier-Norther Lights
Qualified Person and Technical Information:
The scientific and technical information within this news release has been reviewed and approved by Blaine Smit, P.Geo. VP Exploration for Cambria Gold Mines Inc. Mr. Smit is a non-independent “Qualified Person” as defined under National Instrument 43-101.
Marketing Services
Cambria announces that it has entered into a six-month social media consulting services agreement with Triomphe Holdings Ltd., doing business as Capital Analytica (“Capital Analytica“), an arm’s-length service provider, in accordance with the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable securities laws. Under the agreement, Capital Analytica will provide social media consulting and related investor awareness services for a total fee of $150,000 payable in two equal installments over the six-month term. The agreement includes an option to renew for an additional six-month term at a rate of $75,000, unless terminated earlier in accordance with its terms. Capital Analytica has no direct or indirect interest in the Company or its securities and has no current intention or right to acquire any such interest during the engagement, other than the potential grant of stock options in the future.
In addition, the Company has engaged the services of ICP Securities Inc. (“ICP”) to provide automated market making services, including use of its proprietary algorithm, ICP Premium™, in compliance with the policies and guidelines of the TSX Venture Exchange and other applicable legislation. ICP will be paid a monthly fee of C$7,500, plus applicable taxes. The agreement between the Company and ICP was signed with a start date of February 26, 2026, and is for four (4) months (the “Initial Term”) and shall be automatically renewed for subsequent one (1) month terms (each month called an “Additional Term”) unless either party provides at least thirty (30) days written notice prior to the end of the Initial Term or an Additional Term, as applicable. There are no performance factors contained in the agreement and no stock options or other compensation in connection with the engagement. ICP and its clients may acquire an interest in the securities of the Company in the future. ICP has no direct or indirect interest in the Company or its securities and has no current intention or right to acquire any such interest during the engagement, other than the potential grant of stock options in the future
ICP is an arm’s length party to the Company. ICP’s market making activity will be primarily to correct temporary imbalances in the supply and demand of the Company’s shares. ICP will be responsible for the costs it incurs in buying and selling the Company’s shares, and no third party will be providing funds or securities for the market making activities.
Both the engagement of Capital Analytica and ICP remain subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.
About Cambria Gold Mines
Cambria Gold Mines is a Canadian mining company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, and its shares trade on the TSX-V under the ticker CAMB and on the OTCID under the ticker AOTVF. Cambria is the 100% owner of the Premier Gold mine and Red Mountain Gold Project which are located on Nisga’a Nation Treaty Lands, in the prolific Golden Triangle of northwestern British Columbia. For more information about the Company, please refer to the Company’s profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca or visit the Company’s web site at www.cambriagold.com.