Ms. Melissa Render reports

NEW FOUND INTERCEPTS 43 G/T AU OVER 11.6M AT KEATS WEST

New Found Gold Corp. has released the results from 16 diamond drill holes that were completed as part of a drill program designed to test the Keats West zone, a low-angle thrust fault that dips gently to the south-southwest and is located on the west side of the highly prospective Appleton fault zone (AFZ). New Found's 100-per-cent-owned Queensway project comprises a 1,662-square-kilometre area, accessible via the Trans-Canada Highway, 15 km west of Gander, Nfld.

Keats West highlights:

• An interval of 42.8 grams per tonne gold over 11.6 metres in NFGC-22-990 was intersected in a 27 m stepout from previously reported 42.6 g/t Au over 32 m in NFGC-22-960 (Nov. 28, 2022), further defining one of the high-grade Keats West fault segments.
• Intervals of 2.47 g/t Au over 27.85 m, 1.39 g/t Au over 21.3 m and 66 g/t Au over 2.7 m in NFGC-22-1028 are located 275 m down dip of previously released 6.68 g/t Au over 24 m in NFGC-22-784 (Jan. 24, 2023) and 85 m along strike of previously reported 17.2 g/t Au over 22.9 m and 12 g/t Au over 18.4 m in NFGC-22-1040 (April 25, 2023). This series of intervals defines a thick panel of gold mineralization that is over 50 m wide and represents an uplifted panel of the Keats West fault.
• Keats West has a drill-defined mineralized footprint spanning 305 m long by 315 m wide and starts at surface, with all intercepts drilled to date occurring above 130 m vertical depth. The zone has a cumulative average thickness of 30 m.

Melissa Render, vice-president of exploration, stated: "The holes reported today were completed as part of a program to both expand and better define the near-surface section of Keats West. Drilling in this area continues to identify mineralization that starts at surface and has a low-angle orientation that allows for easy exploration through shallow drilling. True widths at Keats West range from 10 m to greater than 50 m and include multiple domains of high-grade gold mineralization. Over all, today's results provide us with additional confidence that the continuity of gold mineralization across the Keats West fault is strong."

Queensway 500,000 m drill program update

The company is currently undertaking a 500,000 m drill program at Queensway, and approximately 23,000 m of core are currently pending assay results.

Sampling, subsampling and laboratory

All drilling recovers HQ core. Drill core is split in half, using a diamond saw or a hydraulic splitter for rare intersections with incompetent core.

A geologist examines the drill core and marks out the intervals to be sampled and the cutting line. Sample lengths are mostly one metre and adjusted to respect lithological and/or mineralogical contacts and isolate narrow (less than one m) veins or other structures that may yield higher grades.

Technicians saw the core along the defined cutting line. One-half of the core is kept as a witness sample, and the other half is submitted for analysis. Individual sample bags are sealed, placed into totes and marked with the contents.

New Found has been submitting samples for gold determination by fire assay to ALS Canada Ltd. and by photon assay to MSALabs since June, 2022. ALS and MSA operate under a commercial contract with New Found.

Drill core samples are shipped to ALS for sample preparation in Sudbury, Ont., Thunder Bay, Ont., or Moncton, N.B. ALS is an ISO-17025-accredited laboratory for the fire assay method.

Drill core samples are also submitted to MSA in Val d'Or, Que. MSA operates numerous laboratories worldwide and maintains ISO-17025 accreditation for many metal determination methods. MSA is an ISO-17025-accredited laboratory for the photon assay method.

At ALS, the entire sample is crushed to approximately 70 per cent passing two millimetres. A 3,000 g split is pulverized. Routine samples do not have visible gold identified and are not within a mineralized zone. Routine samples are assayed for gold by 30 g fire assay with an inductively coupled plasma spectrometry (ICP) finish. If the initial 30 g fire assay gold result is over one g/t, the remainder of the 3,000 g split is screened at 106 micrometres for screened metallic assay. For the screened metallic assay, the entire coarse fraction (sized greater than 106 micrometres) is fire assayed, and two splits of the fine fraction (sized fewer than 106 micrometres) are fire assayed. The three assays are combined on a weight-averaged basis. Samples that have visible gold identified or fall within a mineralized interval are automatically submitted for screened metallic assay for gold.

At MSA, the entire sample is crushed to approximately 70 per cent passing two millimetres. For routine samples that do not have VG identified and are not within a mineralized zone, the samples are riffle split to fill two 450 g jars for photon assay. The assays reported from both jars are combined on a weight-averaged basis. If one of the jars assays greater than one g/t, the remaining crushed material is weighed into multiple jars and submitted for photon assay.

For samples that have VG identified or are within a mineralized zone, the entire crushed sample is weighed into multiple jars and submitted for photon assay. The assays from all jars are combined on a weight-averaged basis.

All samples prepared at ALS or MSA are also analyzed for a multielement ICP package (ALS method code ME-ICP61) at ALS Vancouver.

Drill program design, quality assurance/quality control and interpretation of results are performed by qualified persons employing a rigorous quality assurance/quality control program consistent with industry best practices. Standards and blanks account for a minimum of 10 per cent of the samples, in addition to each laboratory's internal quality assurance/quality control programs.

Quality control data are evaluated on receipt from the laboratories for failures. Appropriate action is taken if assay results for standards and blanks fall outside allowed tolerances. All results stated have passed New Found's quality control protocols.

New Found's quality control program also includes the submission of the second half of the core for approximately 2 per cent of the drilled intervals. In addition, approximately 1 per cent of sample pulps for mineralized samples are submitted for reanalysis to a second ISO-accredited laboratory for check assays.

The company does not recognize any factors of drilling, sampling or recovery that could materially affect the accuracy or reliability of the assay data disclosed.

The assay data disclosed in this news release have been verified by the company's qualified person against the original assay certificates.

The company notes that it has not completed any economic evaluations of its Queensway project and that the Queensway project does not have any resources or reserves.

Qualified person

The scientific and technical information disclosed in this press release was reviewed and approved by Greg Matheson, PGeo, chief operating officer, a qualified person as defined under National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Matheson consents to the publication of this press release dated Dec. 6, 2023, by New Found. Mr. Matheson certifies that this press release fairly and accurately represents the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for this press release.

About New Found Gold Corp.

New Found holds a 100-per-cent interest in the Queensway project, located 15 kilometres west of Gander, Nfld., and just 18 km from Gander International Airport. The project is intersected by the Trans-Canada Highway and has logging roads crosscutting the project, high-voltage electric power lines running through the project area and easy access to a highly skilled work force. The company is currently undertaking a 500,000-metre drill program at Queensway and is well financed for this program, with cash and marketable securities of approximately $63.6-million as of December, 2023.

We seek Safe Harbor.