Ms. Melissa Render reports

NEW FOUND GOLD EXPANDS QUEENSWAY GOLD PROJECT 2025 WORK PROGRAM

New Found Gold Corp. has expanded the 2025 work program at the company's 100-per-cent-owned Queensway gold project in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Highlights:

• 70,000-metre (m) diamond drill program under way;
• Approximately 11,750 m in 104 DDH (diamond drill hole) has been drilled to date, with five drill rigs currently on site;
• 80 per cent of planned drilling focused on resource definition and predevelopment work and 20 per cent on exploration;
• The AFZ core excavation program is under way, with channel sampling of the Iceberg excavation approximately 80 per cent complete and the Lotto excavation commencing shortly;
• A regional exploration program at Queensway South and Queensway North is under way, and is expected to run until late September, 2025;
• In addition to a PEA (preliminary economic assessment) planned for release in late Q2 (second quarter) 2025, the company is conducting ongoing engineering studies, including metallurgical testwork and trade-off studies;
• Additional environmental work will be undertaken in 2025 to ensure that all baseline studies are completed for upcoming permitting processes.

Melissa Render, president of New Found Gold, stated: "With the recent closing of our bought deal financing, the company is well financed to expand our 2025 work program. The primary focus remains the key deliverables to advance Queensway on the path to development. The work program will include approximately 70,000 m of drilling, along with engineering and environmental studies. Given the district-scale potential of our extensive landholdings, we will be conducting exploration drilling on high-priority targets such as Dropkick, and will conduct a regional program in highly prospective and underexplored portions of both Queensway South and Queensway North."

Resource definition and predevelopment drilling

Approximately 80 per cent of the planned 2025 drilling at Queensway will be focused on infill drilling of inferred and unclassified mineralization within the pit shells of the AFZ core portion of the initial mineral resource estimate (MRE), grade control drilling at the Keats and Iceberg zones, and geotechnical, hydrogeological and condemnation drilling (see the New Found Gold news release dated March 24, 2025, for additional information on the initial MRE). This work began in May, 2025, and is planned to continue through December, 2025.

Exploration drilling

Approximately 20 per cent of the planned 2025 drilling at Queensway will be focused on exploration, including potential expansions to the initial MRE and new discoveries. This work began in June, 2025, with drilling at the Dropkick zone.

Dropkick is a new high-grade gold target located 11 kilometres (km) north of the AFZ core and open in all directions. Drilling at Dropkick began in late 2024 and therefore was not included in the initial MRE. Highlights from 2024 drilling at Dropkick include:

• 42.8 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) over 14.95 m in NFGC-24-2225;
• 89.5 g/t Au over 5.85 m in NFGC-24-2197;
• 26.2 g/t Au over 16.15 m in NFGC-24-2193.

For the full results from Dropkick, see the New Found Gold news releases dated Feb. 11, 2025, and May 21, 2025.

AFZ core excavation program

Excavation of the shallow overburden covering the near-surface portion of key zones in AFZ core began with the Keats zone, which was excavated in 2023 and mapped and sampled in 2024 (see the New Found Gold news release dated Dec. 2, 2024). This work was successful in providing greater confidence in the geologic model, the grade distribution of very high-grade veins and the structural controls on mineralization in this zone.

The Iceberg zone was excavated over a 220 m by 105 m area in late 2024. The Iceberg zone excavation has exposed broad zones of gold-bearing quartz veins directly below 2.5 to nine m of overburden. This excavation has been successfully dewatered and channel sampling focused on the key mineralized domains within the excavated area at 7.5 m intervals is approximately 80 per cent complete.

Following the completion of the infill drilling at the Lotto zone, overburden will be excavated to expose the gold-bearing quartz veins. Excavation of the Lotto zone is expected to be completed in Q4 (fourth quarter) 2025 and channel sampling is planned for Q2 2026.

The company continues to evaluate the size and location of a bulk sample for the project within the mineralized zones exposed in the AFZ core excavation program.

Regional exploration program

The company has commenced a regional exploration program at Queensway South and Queensway North. This work will focus on the northern and southern extensions of the Appleton and JBP fault zones, and follow up on high-priority targets generated by earlier regional programs. Work will include soil and rock sampling, trenching, a 156-square-kilometre magnetic survey, and a quaternary geological study.

Engineering studies

On Nov. 6, 2024, the company announced it had engaged SLR Consulting (Canada) Ltd. to deliver an initial MRE and PEA. The MRE was announced on March 24, 2025, and a PEA is continuing with a target completion date of late Q2 2025. This is an important milestone for the project as it will provide preliminary project economics in addition to defining the work programs that will allow the company to advance the project. Mine design and planning, metallurgical processing, and economic optimizations will be conducted by SLR to complete the PEA.

Additional engineering studies include:

• Metallurgical testing programs are continuing, with additional work to further refine the flowsheet for the next phase of studies in 2026;
• Condemnation drilling for siting of plant infrastructure, geotechnical and hydrogeological data collection programs are commencing, and required as inputs for the next phase of studies in 2026;
• Additional trade-off studies to optimize the project are planned for completion in Q3 (third quarter) 2025.

Environmental studies

The company will be undertaking additional environmental studies in 2025 as part of its commitment to the project. Since 2021, New Found Gold has been collecting baseline environmental data to develop a comprehensive multiyear data set. Environmental studies in 2025 have been designed to ensure that all baseline studies are conducted for upcoming permitting processes.

About New Found Gold Corp.

New Found Gold holds a 100-per-cent interest in Queensway, located in Newfoundland and Labrador, a Tier 1 jurisdiction with excellent infrastructure and a skilled local work force.

The company has completed an initial MRE at Queensway (see New Found Gold news release dated March 24, 2025). A fully financed PEA is under way, with completion scheduled for late Q2 2025.

Recent drilling continues to yield new discoveries along strike and downdip of known gold zones, pointing to the district-scale potential of the 175,600-hectare project that covers a 110 km strike extent along two prospective fault zones.

New Found Gold is a well-financed advanced exploration company focused on growth and value creation at Queensway. The company has a new management team and a solid shareholder base, including an approximately 19-per-cent holding by Eric Sprott.

Please see the company's website and the company's SEDAR+ profile.

Qualified person

The scientific and technical information disclosed in this news release was reviewed and approved by Melissa Render, PGeo, president, and a qualified person as defined under National Instrument 43-101. Ms. Render consents to the publication of this news release, by New Found Gold. Ms. Render certifies that this news release fairly and accurately represents the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for this news release.

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