New Found Gold connects Keats and 515 zones at Queensway project in Newfoundland

New Found Gold (TSXV: NFG) has released results from 17 diamond drill holes that were completed as part of an ongoing program exploring a highly prospective segment of the Appleton fault zone (AFZ) immediately north of the high-grade Keats zone at its Queensway project in Newfoundland.

AFZ is one of two prominent north-east trending faults that are interpreted to be the primary fluid conduits for gold mineralization at the 1,500-sq. km Queensway property, about 15 km west of Gander.

The Keats North area is defined by an extensive network of gold-mineralized veins in a corridor covering roughly 630 metres of strike northwards from the northern end of Keats Main to the recently discovered 515 zone. Noteworthy intervals in these veins include 2.8 metres of 45.9 grams gold from 22.6 metres and 2.1 metres of 19.3 grams gold from 46.6 metres in the Umbra vein/Keats Main zone; and 2 metres of 40.6 grams gold from 48 metres, 2.2 metres of 24.1 grams gold from 52 metres and 2.1 metres of 13.2 grams gold from 132 metres in the Enigma vein.

True widths are not yet known.

A drill rig at the Queensway gold project in Newfoundland. Credit: New Found Gold

Due to a thin cover of glacial till, there is very limited surface exposure of bedrock along the AFZ corridor, including between Keats Main and Golden Joint, and until recently there had been essentially no drill testing of this gap. In early 2022, the company implemented a program of systematic grid drilling between Keats and Golden Joint leading to the 515 discovery (3.9 metres of 43.9 grams gold) and two near-surface intervals of 6.8 metres grading 8.7 grams gold and 2.2 metres of 275 grams gold. The latest assays have outlined an area roughly equal to the strike length of Keats, connecting two zones together that were previously separate.

“Our drilling is demonstrating that the corridor surrounding the Appleton fault zone is prolifically mineralized via a series of interconnected structures and vein sets that form a webbing shown to occur within a few hundred-metre-wide damage zone on either side of the of the primary, crustal-scale fault,” commented Melissa Render, NFG’s VP of exploration.

“These veins are not constrained by orientation or stratigraphy, which greatly increases the amount of strike length and the variety of lithological environments to explore. In specific areas, blow outs of gold mineralization occur where veins and structures cross paths, as illustrated at Keats Main, Lotto and Golden Joint. The complexity and extent of the system provides an opportunity for discovery in a very large volume of prospective host stratigraphy,” she added.

The company has now ramped up to 14 drills to continue to accelerate its exploration and rate of discovery at the Appleton fault zone.