More high grades at New Found Gold’s Queensway project in Newfoundland

Drill hole NFGC-23-1820 cut 16.7 metres grading 36.2 grams gold per tonne from 45.3 metres depth, while 45 metres away hole NFGC-23-1827 returned 14.7 metres at 33.7 grams from 87.5 metres down-hole, New Found Gold said on Wednesday.

The holes were drilled from the west to the east to better test how a secondary set of gold veins and associated structures intersect at Iceberg on the Keats-Baseline fault zone, the company said.

“Infill and definition drilling at Iceberg and Iceberg East have provided us with a comprehensive picture of the near-surface expression of this portion of the fault,” Melissa Render, vice-president of exploration, said in a release. “The fault has demonstrated several times over that it is a very important structure.”

New Found is expanding the drill program at Iceberg and Iceberg East, using seismic data to help target more gold mineralization in the fault. The company started drilling on the project five years ago, completing 500,000 metres by last year and added another 150,000 to the planned total. There’s been no resource declared yet.

The Queensway project has consistently reported strong drill results, topping The Northern Miner’s weekly Drill Down rankings several times since it burst onto the scene in 2019 with a hole at the Keats target returning 19 metres grading 92.9 grams from 96 metres downhole. 

Gold region

Queensway, on a 1,662-sq.-km area accessible via the Trans-Canada Highway 15 km west of Gander, is part of a region that has drawn investor Sprott Asset Management, Labrador Gold (TSXV: LAB; US-OTC: NKOSF) and Exploits Discovery (TSXV: NFLD) among others. MarathonGold was acquired in a $345-million all-stock deal in January by Calibre Mining (TSX: CXB) for its Valentine project now under construction about 200 km west of Gander.

Also from Iceberg on Wednesday, drill-hole NFGC-231838 cut 5.9 metres grading 40.5 grams gold from 14.1 metres depth and hole NFGC-23-1914 returned 12.8 metres at 13.9 grams gold from 29 metres. Drill hole NFGC-23-1323 intercepted 7.35 metres of 42.8 grams gold from 109 metres depth.

The near-surface Iceberg-Iceberg East high-grade segment of the Keats-Baseline fault has a strike length of 655 metres. When combined with the 400-metre high-grade segment of Keats Main, this near-surface, high-grade corridor covers over 1 km of strike. Iceberg-Iceberg East is 300 metres northeast of the Keats target along the Appleton fault zone.

The fault runs southwest to northeast with targets such as Monte Carlo, Keats West and K2 on its west side. The east side holds the Keats, Keats North, Iceberg, Iceberg East, Golden Joint, Lotto, Jackpot and Everest discoveries.