Gold Explorer Finds High-Grade 508g/t Au Breakthrough at Queensway in Newfoundland

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1. Ownership and Share Structure Information

The information listed above was updated on the date this article was published and was compiled from information from the company and various other data providers.

New Found Gold Corp. (NFG:TSX.V; NFGC:NYSE.American) announced additional results from grade-control drilling at the Keats zone within the AFZ Core, part of the its 2025 drilling initiative at its wholly-owned Queensway Gold Project in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, according to a February 2 release.

Highlights include:

• 508 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au) over 2.2 meters from 16.8 meters (NFGC-25-GC-024)
• 113 g/t Au over 3.75 meters from 11.9 meters (NFGC-25-GC-025)
• 9.29 g/t Au over 37.6 meters from 12 meters (NFGC-25-GC-027)
• 27 g/t Au over 10 meters from 0 meters (NFGC-25-GC-033)
• 31.5 g/t Au over 6.1 meters from 0.6 meters (NFGC-25-GC-021)
• 17.2 g/t Au over 9.05 meters from 2.7 meters (NFGC-25-GC-042)
• 24.5 g/t Au over 6.35 meters from 24.65 meters (NFGC-25-GC-031)
• 7.33 g/t Au over 19.8 meters from 4.7 meters (NFGC-25-GC-026)
• 3.75 g/t Au over 21.4 meters from 0.1 meters (NFGC-25-GC-035)

"Building on the initial Keats zone grade control drill results released in late 2025, these new results continue to demonstrate the high-grade tenor of this zone," said President Melissa Render. "The 5-by-5-meter spaced drilling is confirming strong continuity of gold mineralization occurring at or within a few meters of surface. We look forward to updating the market with the results of the remaining 2025 grade control drilling from both Keats and the Iceberg zone when available."

The results in the announcement included 1,230 meters of drilling across 36 diamond drill holes from the 2025 Keats excavation grade control drill program. This initiative was designed to enhance confidence in the distribution of high-grade, near-surface gold mineralization and support mine planning as outlined in the Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) Phase 1 open pits, the company said.

The full program consists of 84 drill holes totaling 2,773 meters, with 62% of results reported so far, including 36 holes in this release and an initial 16 holes in a previous release. Remaining results will be shared as they become available, New Found Gold said.

The drilling is assessing a volume approximately 65 meters long, 30 meters deep, and 40 meters wide, with a 5-meter-by-5-meter drill spacing, including a near-surface high-grade area uncovered during ongoing excavation. Results so far align well with the initial mineral resource estimate block model, indicating strong continuity of high-grade mineralized zones at Keats, providing better definition of their geometry, mostly occurring at or near the surface.

Looking Ahead

The 2025 Queensway drilling initiative encompassed 74,377 meters of drilling across 614 diamond drill holes, with around 75% of the effort concentrated on the AFZC area to aid in advancing the Phase 1 mine plan as detailed in the company's PEA, according to the release. The remaining 25% focused on exploration targets like the Dropkick zone. As of now, about 50% of the 2025 drilling results are still pending, along with channel sampling results from the Lotto excavation. These findings will be disclosed once they are available.

The company said the 2026 Queensway drilling program is currently in progress, with four drill rigs actively operating. The initial infill drilling for 2026 is set to first address PEA Phase 2 open pit resource conversion, later transitioning to PEA Phase 3 underground resource conversion as the year progresses.

New Found Gold intends to broaden its grade control drilling starting in the second quarter of 2026. The upcoming phase will utilize insights from the 2025 program to refine drill hole spacing and program scope. This will involve completing the initial grade-control drilling at the Iceberg excavation, initiating grade-control drilling at the Lotto excavation, and potentially expanding grade-control drilling at the Keats and Iceberg sites. The goal of this work is to enhance confidence in the distribution of gold mineralization and support mine planning as outlined for the PEA Phase 1 open pits.

Exploration drilling will concentrate on expanding resources in the AFZC, including an initial grid-based program targeting the promising corridor adjacent to the AFZ at Bullseye, continued step-outs at Dropkick (situated 11 kilometers north of the AFZC), and targeted segments of the AFZ at AFZ Peripheral.

A regional drilling program to test advanced targets at Queensway South is in the planning stages and is expected to begin in the second half of 2026. The company said it plans to submit an updated Technical Report for Queensway, which will feature an updated mineral resource estimate, in mid-2026.

Infill Drilling Continues

Within the PEA Phase 1 open pit, infill drilling continues to demonstrate excellent continuity of gold mineralization and a strong match with the existing Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) block model, noted Paradigm Capital Analyst Don MacLean in an update on November 20, 2025.

A standout intercept of 2.38 g/t Au over 22.1 meters (NFGC-25-2362) was drilled outside the current PEA pit shell, suggesting K2 remains open at depth and could support future pit expansion or underground development," MacLean wrote. "The mineralized footprint now measures ~490 meters x 395 meters, with gold starting at surface and extending to 250 meters vertically."

"The infill program at K2 is doing what one wants to see, correlating well with the MRE, but we doubt it will move the market," the analyst said. "K2 is a meaningful zone, accounting for about 15% of the 1.6 million-ounce (Moz) open-pit MRE and has a grade of 1.4 g/t versus the open pit average of 1.9 g/t."

He continued, "It's encouraging to see a hole extend the mineralization outside of K2's resource envelope. Not that this will add much on its own, these small additions will cumulatively add significant value given that the infrastructure will already be in place."

New Found Gold has performed well since its reset, showing a 53% increase over three months and a 90% rise over six months (85%), MacLean said. The acquisition of Maritime was strategic and well-received, accelerating New Found Gold's path to initial production and aiding in funding the construction of a full-scale mill on site. This fast track to production is appealing, as seen in the strong share price performance of other developers approaching production.

Leede Financial Inc., in its Daily Insights newsletter on February 2, commented on the release.

"New Found Gold Corp. announced additional results from grade control drilling at the Keats zone excavation in the AFZ Core, completed as part of the company's 2025 drill program on their 100%-owned Queensway Gold Project in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada," Leede noted.

The Catalyst: Pause in Bull Market Could Be Opportunity

The luster is fading from gold and silver, according to a February 2 report by Mary Cunningham for CBS News MoneyWatch. Prices for these precious metals, which reached record highs last week, are continuing their decline following a significant selloff on Friday. Gold, which surpassed US$5,500 last week, fell below US$4,500 per ounce in overnight trading. Friday's drop marked the largest single-day decrease in gold prices since 2013, according to Pepperstone senior research strategist Michael Brown. Silver also experienced its steepest daily loss, plummeting over 31%. By 10:30 am EDT, gold and silver had recovered to US$4,779 and US$81, respectively.

What is causing this downturn in metal prices? Over the past year, investors have flocked to these metals due to growing concerns about global geopolitical instability and increasing government debt, as debt levels in the U.S. and other major economies continue to rise.

The selloff on Friday followed President Donald Trump's announcement of Kevin Warsh as his nominee to replace Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve. Although Warsh has advocated for lower interest rates over the past year, he is generally perceived as "hawkish" on inflation.

The drop in precious metal prices was further driven by a recovery in the dollar, which had previously reached its lowest point in four years before Warsh was nominated as Fed chair, as noted by JPMorgan analysts, Cunningham reported. Generally, the values of gold and the dollar tend to move in opposite directions.

Prior to the sell-off, gold had experienced a remarkable yearlong surge, driven by significant central bank purchases and geopolitical tensions, according to Huileng Tan and Samuel O'Brient of Business Insider on February 2. These factors continue to persist and now seem to offer support, despite earlier speculation.

"I think the fundamentals remain pretty well in place despite those risks around Fed independence," Daniel Hynes, a senior commodities analyst at ANZ, mentioned on Bloomberg TV, on Monday, according to the Business Insider report.

Hynes noted that broad geopolitical tensions continue to bolster the gold market, even though he anticipates that price volatility will remain elevated. "The general unbending of the world order that we hear about constantly, and the U.S.'s role within that, has really been at the crux of this haven buying," he added.

On November 11, 2025, Roth analyst Mike Niehuser gave New Found Gold a Buy rating and a target price of US$5.00.

Ownership and Share Structure¹

Strategic entities own about 32% of New Found Gold. These include 2176423 Ontario Ltd. with 10.96, Palisades Goldcorp Ltd. with 9.74%, Sprott Mining Inc. with 7.47%. Institutions own 10% and management and insiders own less than 1%. The rest is retail.

The company has 344 million shares outstanding and its market cap is CA$1.28 billion. Its 52-week range is CA$1.34–4.89 per share.