New Found drills 69.15 g/t gold over 14.15 metres at Queensway, Newfoundland
New Found Gold Corp. [NFG-TSXV; NFGC-NYSE American] reported assay results from 23 diamond drill holes designed to expand the high-grade gold mineralization at the Golden Joint and Lotto discoveries located within a 1-km segment of the Appleton fault zone (AFZ) north of the Keats zone.
This corridor is part of the 20+ km of prospective strike along the regional-scale Appleton and JBP fault zones on the 100%-owned Queensway project that New Found is targeting with a 400,000-metre drill campaign. The Queensway project comprises an approximately 1,500+ km2 area with initial focus in areas accessed via the Trans-Canada Highway approximately 15 km west of Gander, Newfoundland.
At Golden Joint, the intercept of 69.15 g/t gold over 14.15 metres in NFGC-21-462 demonstrates continuity and significant width of the high-grade vein that is now defined over a strike length of 250 metres and to a vertical depth of 300 metres. The Golden Joint vein is located in the footwall to the AFZ, strikes approximately north-south, steeply dips to the west and is open in all directions.
At Golden Joint HW, the gold zone is defined by a network of stockwork-style veining that is largely hosted within and adjacent to a thick greywacke bed and has now been defined over a strike length of 190 metres and to a vertical depth of 125 metres. The highlight interval of 13.35 g/t gold over 2.10 metres in NFGC-21-264 further defines the high-grade trend in the Golden Joint HW stockwork zone that strikes towards the east-northeast, dips moderately to the southeast and remains open in all directions.
At Lotto, the main high-grade gold vein has now been extended to a vertical depth of 225 metres with the intercept of 24.25 g/t gold over 2.20 metres in NFGC-367A and over a strike length of 200 metres. The Lotto main vein is located approximately 150 metres east of the AFZ, strikes north-south, steeply dips to the east and is open in all directions.
At Sunday, located between the main vein at Lotto and the Appleton Fault Zone (AFZ), NFGC-21-319 intersected 23.08 g/t gold over 2.05 metres, 65 metres down-dip of the previously reported 18.1 g/t gold over 6.50 metres in NFGC-20-44. The Sunday Zone is located in the footwall to the AFZ, strikes approximately north-south, dips moderately to the east and remains open in all directions.
Melissa Render, P.Geo., VP Exploration, stated: “As drilling progresses along this segment of the Appleton Fault Zone, it is very apparent the role and importance of the AFZ as a crustal-scale thrust fault and likely source of the gold mineralizing fluids. All rocks in close proximity to the AFZ have the potential to host high-grade gold mineralization. It is important to note that the high-grade gold sits in structures adjacent to the AFZ within a damage zone that presents as a network of gold-bearing faults. Although the structural setting is complex, it is this complexity that is conducive to gold deposition. Identifying these key structural loci is essential for exploration success.
“At Lotto for example, the current drill-defined depth and lateral continuity of the Lotto main vein of 300 x 225 metres is impressive, and drilling indicates that very high-grade shoots are developing where structures intersect and at distances 200+ metres from the AFZ. This introduces a large prospective window surrounding this significant, regional-scale fault zone that transects the full 100+ km length of the property. Exploration is working diligently to systematically drill-test this corridor whilst chasing the high-grade main veins at Lotto and Golden Joint to depth and along strike. Additionally, Sunday Zone is situated in a stratigraphic position identical to the Golden Joint Vein, in the immediate footwall to the AFZ. This structural intersection produces an important exploration target and one that we are seeing repeated along the length of the AFZ and that is currently being explored at Golden Joint. At this early stage in exploration drilling, work will focus on near surface targets, while dedicating a portion of the drill allocation to trace high-grade gold mineralization to depth.”
Approximately 38% of the planned 400,000-metre program at Queensway has been drilled with approximately 21,400 metres of the core with pending assays. Eleven core rigs are operating and New Found is targeting an increase in the drill count to 14 rigs.
New Found Gold is well funded for this program with working capital of approximately $111 million.