New Found Gold Corp. announced the results from nine diamond drill holes that were completed as part of an infill and step-out drill program testing the Lotto Main Vein located 2km north of the Keats Zone along the highly prospective Appleton Fault Zone (AFZ). New Found's 100% owned Queensway project comprises an approximately 1500km2 area, accessible via the Trans-Canada Highway approximately 15km west of Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Note that the host structures are interpreted to be steeply dipping and true widths are generally estimated to be 40% to 90% of reported intervals.Infill veining in secondary structures with multiple orientations crosscutting the primary host structures are commonly observed in drill core which could result in additional uncertainty in true width. Composite intervals reported carry a minimum weighted average of 1 g/t Au diluted over a minimum core length of 2m with a maximum of 2m consecutive dilution. Included high-grade intercepts are reported as any consecutive interval with grades greater than 10 g/t Au.

Grades have not been capped in the averaging and intervals are reported as drill thickness. At the Lotto prospect, diamond drilling is progressing on a work program designed to step out and expand the known extents of the high-grade gold bearing Lotto Main Vein and to also infill in areas for better definition of the very high-grade gold domains which will help with understanding the mineralization controls and ultimately guide future exploration efforts. The Lotto Main Vein contains high-grade gold mineralization that has now been defined over a strike length of 220m with the intercept of 16.13 g/t Au over 3.60m in NFGC-22-664 and to a depth of 225m.

This intercept is 190m north of the previously reported 150.3 g/t over 11.5m in NFGC-21-201. The Lotto Main Vein target is not closed off in any direction along strike or to depth. Infill drilling at the Lotto Main Vein is targeting a “roll”, an area where there is a drastic change in the vein orientation, interpreted to be a location of dilation and potentially correlated to the emplacement of high-grade gold mineralization.

The current drill results have provided further confirmation of this interpretation with the intercepts of 152.1 g/t Au over 3.85m in NFGC-22-673 and 12.98 g/t Au over 14.95m in NFGC-22-684. This exploration work supports the current geological model and has also contributed to the understanding of the mineralization controls at Lotto. This improved understanding will allow for efficient testing of this high-grade corridor going forward as gold mineralization remains open in all directions.

Mineralization at the Queensway Project is hosted by a fold-thrust sequence of northeast-striking, steeply dipping turbiditic sedimentary rocks deposited and deformed during the closure of the Iapetus Ocean and subsequent continent-continent collision. During this prolonged period of continued shortening, at least two regional-deformation zones developed and include the AFZ and JBP fault zones. The AFZ is interpreted to be a significant, deep-seated thrust fault that strikes southwest across the full 100km+ length of the property and is likely the main conduit for the gold mineralizing fluids, much like the Cadillac-Larder Lake Fault Zone in the Abitibi.

As a result of progressive deformation, the brittle host stratigraphy developed an extensive network of gold-bearing fault zones enveloping the AFZ, the extents of which are not yet known. Higher grades and widths of gold mineralization occur in areas where there was greater mineralizing fluid flow such as at structural intersections, at dilational openings within fault structures, and along lithological contacts where breakage occurs due to rheological differences in the compressional strength of contrasting sedimentary rock units. A significant amount of the high-grade gold mineralization is interpreted to be epizonal in nature, having been emplaced when tectonic movements resulted in the explosive tapping of deep gold-rich magmatic fluids that rapidly precipitated gold as they migrated towards surface.

A majority of the exploration drilling to date at Lotto has been focused on testing the Main Vein. Like the Golden Joint Main Vein, it too strikes north-south but is steeply dipping to the east. This specific vein also occurs approximately 200m east of the AFZ, has been defined to a vertical depth of 325m and over a length of 225m and contains a high-grade segment now defined to a depth of 225m and over a strike length of 220m.

The Lotto Main Vein is spatially associated with a brittle fault zone and is developed in close proximity to a narrow bed of greywacke. The Lotto Main Vein is often massive and vuggy with localized domains of brecciation. There is also an apparent high-grade domain that is interpreted to steeply plunge to the northeast.

The vein at this location crosscuts the thin bed of greywacke, but also, the presence of late brecciated vein phases suggests that there is a fault intersection at this location. Continued exploration drilling in this area will focus on expanding the Lotto Main Vein high-grade domain but will also shift to systematic drill testing stepping north into untouched regions along the AFZ.