New Found first encountered the Keats footwall in October 2021 when it drilled 3.4 metres grading 88.53 g/t gold. The company reported another high-grade intercept of 2.5 metres grading 56.69 g/t gold in mid-January this year.
“It is extremely encouraging to see this style of high-grade gold mineralization developed in the Keats footwall, the area between the Keats Main zone and the Appleton Fault zone,” said VP of exploration Melissa Render in a release.
“It is a large region with limited drilling, each time we push a hole deeper, it seems we find something new. Continued drilling will look to expand these zones toward surface and work to better understand the network of gold-bearing structures that are dissecting this expansive block of rock.”
The recent assays were conducted using the Chrysos PhotonAssay method. Some of the core was later submitted for fire assay.
New Found is about a third of the way through its 400,000 metre drill program, and 32,400 metres of core is awaiting assay results. The company intends to add four more drill rigs by the end of the first quarter for a total of 14.
The Queensway project covers about 1,410 sq. km of land across the Appleton and JBP faults. It is bisected by Gander Lake in the North and South sections. Queensway North, where drilling is underway, has multiple high-grade targets along a 7.8-km section of the Appleton Fault and 12.4 km of the JBP Fault. At Queensway South, a large-scale regional till program identified two gold anomalies coincident with the two faults.
(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)
