New Found Gold Continues to Confirm Continuity of At-Surface High-Grade Gold at Keats Zone, Queensway Gold Project
High-Grade Continuity Confirmed at Keats as NFG Transitions from Discovery to Development
The most recent news release (February 02, 2026) provides results from the 2025 Keats Excavation grade control drilling program. This program used tight 5m x 5m spacing to confirm the continuity of at-surface gold mineralization. Key intercepts include hole NFGC-25-GC-024 with 507.7 g/t Au over 2.2m and NFGC-25-GC-021 with 31.47 g/t Au over 6.1m. Of the 84 holes planned for the Keats grade control program, 36 have been reported in this release. The company also confirmed that the 2026 drilling program is already underway with four rigs, focusing on resource conversion at the AFZ (Appleton Fault Zone) Core.
The impact is Routine - Positive. While the grades are spectacular (e.g., 507.7 g/t), they are consistent with the "nuggety" high-grade nature of the Queensway project already known to the market. - Project De-risking: The move to 5m x 5m spacing is a critical step for mine planning. For orogenic systems with coarse gold, wide-spaced exploration drilling often overestimates or underestimates continuity; these results confirm that the high-grade "pods" are indeed where the model predicted they would be. - Predictability: President Melissa Render noted that the results align with the initial mineral resource block model. This increases the probability that the upcoming 2026 Feasibility Study (expected H2 2026) will accurately reflect recoverable gold. - Operational Readiness: Completing grade control drilling is a prerequisite for the 2027 production target. It signals that management is sticking to the "path to production" timeline established after the 2025 management overhaul.
New Found Gold Corp. (NFG) owns 100% of the Queensway Gold Project in Newfoundland and Labrador. The project is split into North and South, covering 110km of strike along the Appleton and JBP Fault Zones. - Flagship Project: Queensway North (AFZ Core). - Stage: Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) level. - Strategy: A phased production approach. Phase 1 (2027) targets ~69koz/year using open pits and off-site milling at the Pine Cove Mill (acquired via the Maritime Resources merger). Phase 2 targets an expansion to ~172koz/year with an on-site mill.