New Found Gold Corp., a Vancouver-based mineral exploration company, recently struck gold with an exciting discovery at its Queensway project. In the report, the company announced results from a diamond drill hole conducted along with the new Iceberg discovery at the high-grade mining zone, just 300 meters northeast of Keats Main, sitting directly along the promising Appleton Fault Zone. The 100%-owned Queensway gold project takes up 1,662 square kilometers in area.
Hole number NFGC-23-1210 intersected 105 grams per ton of material over 27.05 meters. The strike occurred just 35 meters below the surface at the drilling program, Iceberg. After gathering nine additional samples that each registered over 100 grams per ton, the company has concluded that the composite area contains high-grade mineralization.
The hole is 32 meters along strike from the previous reports at the NFGC-23-1120 hole in March 2023 of 49.7 grams per ton over 29.85 meters. Just two weeks before that, the NFGC-22-1084 hole yielded 15.3 grams per ton over 10.75 meters.
“Discovering high-grade gold mineralization of this magnitude over such a thick interval is rare in nature, and yet, Queensway has produced several of these high-caliber hits across a multitude of zones. NFGC-23-1210 runs 27m in length with several distinct areas of strong quartz veining laden with visible gold. Logging of the hole identified 1,153 counts of visible gold, which ranks as one of the highest seen at Queensway to date,” Melissa Render, the VP of Exploration at New Found, explained.
Iceberg currently offers a drill-defined strike length of 550 meters. The length represents the Keats-Baseline Fault Zone’s fault-displaced eastern limit, which is the same fault containing Keats Main. As of May 31, the Keats Main-Iceberg-Iceberg East mineralized corridor offers a combined strike length of 1.8 kilometers, though it is still open in all directions as the company continues drilling and expansion efforts in intervals at varying depths pending results.
“The Keats-Baseline Fault has proven its potential time and time again and is now defined over a strike length of 1.8km. With the majority of drilling at Queensway focused in the top 250m, and with the seismic program well underway, we look forward to exploration drilling later in 2023 when we can use the drill bit to target the deeper plumbing along the Appleton Fault Zone with an eye towards finding feeder zones and repetitions in mineralization,” Render continued.
New Found Gold has been progressing through its 500,000-meter drilling program at Queensway for quite some time now. 55,135 meters of core are still pending assay results, so we can likely expect more exciting developments soon.
The company’s process for drilling, sampling, and assaying involves recovering HQ core, then splitting it in half using a diamond saw. In rare cases with incompetent cores, the company uses a hydraulic splitter.
After splitting the core, geologists examine it and sample along the cutting line at 1-meter lengths to respect mineralogical contacts. The company submits samples to various preparation and laboratory facilities for the most accurate results.
Based on New Found’s latest discovery, it’s clear the company is on track for its Queensway drilling program. New Found has $52 million in cash and securities, plus additional funding for the program to continue further exploration.
As gold demand continues soaring worldwide, it only makes sense that mineral exploration companies like New Found want to ramp up drilling programs to strike more gold. Prices spike when the economy lulls, and given our economic state, many expect long-term price gains from gold. Numerous major mining and exploration organizations want to get in on this opportunity while prices continue rising.
For example, Benchmark Metals and Thesis Gold recently merged ventures in British Columbia to amplify production and create one of the largest precious metals operations in the Toodoggone mining district. At the same time, Mirasol Resources and AngloGold Ashanti Limited joined forces to further develop the Claudia Gold-Silver Project in Santa Cruz, Argentina. Just a couple of weeks back, Eldora Gold secured an C$81.5 million strategic investment from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to further develop and expand its Skouries project in northern Greece.
The list of similar examples goes on from here. Major corporations are capitalizing on demand, as are investors and central banks alike. Central bank gold buying hit an all-time high last year, and it’s in line to beat that record in 2023.
Moving forward, we can likely expect more similar reports to New Found’s exciting release. As always, investors should consult their financial advisors before making any portfolio decisions.
