New Found Gold drills 6.7 g/t gold over 24 metres at Queensway, Newfoundland; shares up
New Found Gold Corp. [NFG-TSXV; NFGC-NYSE American] reported results from 37 diamond drill holes that were completed as part of a program designed to follow up on newly discovered high-grade gold at Keats West located west of the highly prospective Appleton Fault Zone (AFZ) and from expansion drilling at Keats North. New Found’s 100%-owned Queensway project comprises a 1,650 km2 area, accessible via the Trans-Canada Highway, 15km west of Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador.
At Keats West, ongoing drilling up-dip of NFGC-22-960 that intercepted 42.6 g/t gold over 32 metres continues to intersect expansive zones of gold mineralization including 6.68 g/t gold over 24.00 metres in NFGC-22-784, 13.9 g/t gold over 5.00 metres and 2.01 g/t gold over 7.00 metres in NFGC-22-808, and 2.12 g/t gold over 16.25 metres in NFGC-22-868.
These intercepts all occur near surface and demonstrate the robustness and continuity of this gold system. Follow-up drilling results exploring along strike and down-dip of NFGC-22-960 are pending.
The Keats West structure is interpreted to be a thrust fault that dips gently to the south-southwest and hosts both low and high-grade gold mineralization over a considerable thickness with cumulative widths ranging from 10-30 metres. This fault zone occurs on the west side of the AFZ and contains a series of stacked veins that contain the gold mineralization. Drilling initially focused within a panel of the structure where gold mineralization has been intersected over an area of 280m x 130m and ongoing drilling is designed to extend this zone along strike to the west and down-dip.
Across the AFZ to the east is Keats North where an extensive array of brittle faults host to high-grade gold have been discovered and traced over an area 150 metres wide x 630 metres in strike. A combination of systematic and targeted drilling is being used to test this area and expand on several gold domains identified to date with a focus on the top 200 metres of vertical depth. Highlight results from this drilling include 28.8 g/t gold over 3.45 metres in NFGC-22-855 and 2.13 g/t gold over 14.10 metres in NFGC-22-813.
A new high-grade vein has been discovered between Keats North and Golden Joint reporting a grade of 50.3 g/t gold over 2.45 metres in NFGC-22-766. The vein occurs at the greywacke-shale contact roughly midway between Golden Joint and Keats North. Limited drilling has been done in this area and follow-up drilling is underway.
Melissa Render, VP Exploration of New Found, stated: “These latest results into Keats West reveal strong continuity of grades and widths within the host structure. Intercepts such as 42.6 g/t gold over 32.00 metres (reported on November 28, 2022) and 18.6 g/t gold over 15.95 metres (reported on November 23, 2022), in addition to several hits grading on average, 2 g/t gold over 10 metres and up to 30 metres, increases our confidence that this fault resembles the strength of the Keats-Baseline Fault. So far, this structure has been tested to just 110m vertical depth and remains open down dip and along strike to the west. Identifying this new structural orientation, a low-angle thrust fault, has also influenced the way we explore, particularly on the west side of the AFZ, where we currently have five drills operating.
“East of the AFZ at Keats North we continue to see high-grade intervals with mineralization starting at surface down to vertical depths of 200 metres and I’m thrilled that further north we’ve now intersected another new vein situated midway between Keats North and Golden Joint that contains coarse gold. It is located in an underexplored gap of the project and follow-up drilling is underway to expand this new discovery.”
The company is currently undertaking a 500,000-metre drill program at Queensway and approximately 51,000 metres of core is currently pending assay results.
New Found Gold holds a 100% interest in the Queensway Project, located 15km west of Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, and just 18km from Gander International Airport. The project is intersected by the Trans-Canada Highway and has logging roads crosscutting the project, high voltage electric power lines running through the project area, and easy access to a highly skilled workforce. The company is well funded for this program with cash and marketable securities of approximately $90-million as of January 2023.
In early trading 24Jan23, shares of New Found Gold gained $0.15 to $5.14.