New Found Gold drills 89.5 g/t gold over 2 metres at Lotto, Newfoundland
New Found Gold Corp. [NFG-TSXV; NFGC-NYSE American] has identified a new high-grade gold discovery located at the Lotto prospect at the 100%-owned Queensway project, Newfoundland. This hole was drilled as part of a continuing systematic grid drilling program to test along the highly prospective regional-scale Appleton Fault zone (AFZ). The project comprises an approximately 1,500 km2 accessible via the Trans-Canada Highway approximately 15 km west of Gander.
Drill hole NFGC-22-552 returned 2.00 metres of 89.5 g/t gold, including 0.40 metres of 442 g/t gold. At the Lotto prospect, drill testing in the area between the Lotto Main vein and the AFZ, intersected a new high-grade zone that returned 89.5 g/t over 2 metres in NFGC-22-552 that is 55 metres below surface known as the Tuesday zone.
The Tuesday zone is located in a similar stratigraphic position as the Sunday zone which is 80 m north in the footwall to the AFZ where hole NFGC-20-44 returned 18.1 g/t gold over 6.50 metres, and NFGC-21-319 returned 23.1 g/t gold over 2.05 metres. The new Tuesday zone is interpreted to comprise part of the network of high-grade veins and associated faults developed within the footwall to the AFZ occurring at an intersection between two differently oriented vein trends with mineralization remaining open in all directions.
Melissa Render, vice-president of exploration, stated: “The ongoing systematic drill testing along this well-mineralized Keats-Lotto segment of the AFZ continues to identify very gold-rich epizonal-style vein networks. Gold-bearing structures propagate in differing orientations throughout a more than 200-metre-wide corridor of rock adjacent to the AFZ. The extent of this fracture zone is not well constrained by drilling to date, but many lengths of untested structure are interpreted in the volume defined so far, and these are currently being targeted by drilling, particularly focused on near-surface gold mineralization. The Lotto Main vein located further east remains an important open-ended high-grade gold target with drills currently working to define its extent along strike to the north.”
Approximately 48% of the planned 400,000-metre program at Queensway has been drilled to date with ~21,700 metres of the core with assays pending. Twelve core rigs are currently operating and New Found is targeting an increase in the drill count to 14 rigs.
New Found is well funded for this program with cash and marketable securities of approximately $87 million as of June 2022.