Ms. Melissa Render reports

NEW FOUND INTERCEPTS 3.2 G/T AU OVER 43.8M AND 10.3 G/T AU OVER 13M AT KEATS WEST & DEFINES A NEW GOLD DOMAIN AT COKES ZONE

New Found Gold Corp. has released the results from 46 diamond drill holes that were completed as part of a drill program designed to test the Keats West zone and follow up on new gold mineralization identified at the Cokes zone through reconnaissance and targeted drilling. Both prospects are 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.

Highlights:

• Three of today's highlight intervals were drilled into the westernmost extent of the Keats West zone, intercepting 3.49 grams per tonne gold over 23.2 metres in NFGC-23-1765, 12.8 g/t Au over 3.3 m in NFGC-23-1745 and 16.9 g/t Au over 2.15 m in NFGC-23-1755. All three holes hit the structure shallowly starting between two m and 35 m vertical depth, indicating strong near-surface continuity of high-grade gold mineralization over a strike length of 315 m at Keats West.
• Farther east, within the Keats West structure, additional results have been received from holes that were designed to test gaps left from the previous drilling campaign. Several thick intervals of high-grade mineralization were intercepted, including highlight intervals of 3.20 g/t Au over 43.80 m in NFGC-23-1708, 10.3 g/t Au over 13 m and 3.22 g/t Au over 23.50 m in NFGC-23-1741, and 2.97 g/t Au over 23 m in NFGC-23-1713.
• Gold mineralization at Keats West is hosted by a low-angle thrust fault that dips gently to the south-southwest and 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.
• At Cokes, a historical showing located 300 m southwest of Keats West on the west side of the AFZ, drilling has successfully expanded upon the mineralized zone through a combination of grid and targeted drilling. A first-pass program conducted by New Found in 2021 returned encouraging results at Cokes, including the highlight interval of 2.40 g/t Au over 23.70 m in NFGC-21-157.
• Today's results expand the mineralized footprint at Cokes and define a low-angle, south-dipping, gold-mineralized structure that is very similar in orientation to the nearby Keats West. Several significant intervals were received, including 4.33 g/t Au over 11.80 m in NFGC-23-1891, 2.75 g/t Au over 13.50 m in NFGC-23-1609, 3.64 g/t Au over 7.90 m, 2.54 g/t Au over 8.55 m and 1.76 g/t Au over 11.10 m in NFGC-23-1870, which together span a domain measuring 65 m wide by 90 m long. Additional drilling is required to understand the mineralizing controls in this area and to expand on this new discovery.

Melissa Render, vice-president of exploration, stated: "Our second-pass drilling at Cokes has enhanced our understanding of this zone and allowed us to hone into a higher-grade portion of the structure that was previously unknown. This success at Cokes is a great example of where it is often necessary to revisit areas and take a new approach or persist with the drill to produce an improved model that can allow for better targeting. Cokes is in good company with the Keats West structure located just 300 m to the north. At Keats West, we are encouraged by today's results testing the far western extents of the zone where it comes to the surface and continues to produce intervals of near-surface, high-grade gold mineralization."

Queensway 650,000 m drill program update

The company is currently undertaking a 650,000 m drill program at Queensway, and approximately 2,100 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 visible gold identified and are not within a mineralized zone, the samples are riffle split to fill one 450 g jar for photon assay. If the jar assays greater than one g/t Au, the remaining crushed material is weighed into multiple jars and submitted for photon assay.

For samples that have visible gold 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 Feb. 22, 2024, 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 650,000-metre drill program at Queensway and is well financed for this program with cash and marketable securities of approximately $53.5-million as of February, 2024.

We seek Safe Harbor.