Governance Depth & Regional Finance Networks Position New Found Gold for Development Milestones

• New Found Gold has strengthened its governance profile with Dr. Andrew Furey serving as Independent Director, Chair of the Governance and Sustainability Committee, and newly appointed Vice Chair of the National Bank of Canada.
• Furey's dual role across mining governance and institutional banking places the company's board at the intersection of regional economic policy and capital markets at a critical financing stage.
• The company is transitioning to being a multi-asset Canadian gold producer, with Hammerdown achieving its first gold pour in November 2025 and the Queensway Environmental Assessment (EA) application, a key step in the Queensway development process, planned for the second quarter of 2026.
• Queensway hosts 1.39 million ounces indicated and 0.61 million ounces inferred gold resources, with a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) outlining all-in sustaining costs (AISC) of US$1,256 per ounce and an after-tax net present value at a 5% discount rate (NPV5%) of C$743 million at US$2,500 per ounce gold.
• Board-level policy experience and institutional finance networks may prove consequential to the resolution of the C$155 million Phase 1 financing structure and the advancement of Queensway's permitting timeline.

Leadership Composition in Mine Development

Management quality often determines whether a resource discovery becomes a profitable mine, as the transition from exploration to production introduces execution risks across permitting, capital raising, and regulatory compliance. Environmental approvals, financing packages, and engineering design can span several years and require sustained interaction with federal and provincial governments.

Director and Chief Executive Officer of New Found Gold, Keith Boyle, describes the disciplined approach the company applies as it advances through this transition:

"You have to be systematic and don't take shortcuts, drill it till you're confident, expose it to the surface so that you understand it, and in the meantime do the proper engineering to get it there."

Within Canada's mining ecosystem, boards increasingly combine technical mining expertise with policy and capital markets experience to navigate multi-year development cycles. New Found Gold's governance structure reflects this trend, with directors drawn from mining operations, capital markets, and public policy backgrounds.

Project Fundamentals: Queensway & Hammerdown

Queensway hosts 1.39 million ounces indicated and 0.61 million ounces inferred gold resources, with metallurgical testing from Phase 1 and Phase 2 studies assuming an approximately 92% gold recovery. The Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) outlines a 15-year mine life with a life-of-mine all-in sustaining costs (AISC) of US$1,256 per ounce and an after-tax net present value at a 5% discount rate (NPV5%) of C$743 million at a gold price of US$2,500 per ounce, with each US$100 per ounce increase in the gold price estimated to raise NPV by approximately C$89 million. Hammerdown is expected to generate C$243.3 million in after-tax free cash flow over a 13-year mine life, and complements Queensway's longer-term development timeline by providing cash flow that may support financing requirements during the Queensway development phase.

The company is implementing a hub-and-spokes processing strategy centred on the permitted Pine Cove Mill, enabling ore from both projects to be processed through a single existing facility, reducing capital intensity relative to constructing a new mill. Gold mineralisation at Queensway occurs as distributed flakes throughout the vein structure and is visible at surface in the Iceberg and Keats excavations. All projects are located in Newfoundland and Labrador, a jurisdiction consistently highly ranked by the Fraser Institute, supported by established infrastructure, a skilled local workforce, and a provincial objective to develop five new mines by 2030.

Development Execution Challenges at Queensway & Hammerdown

New Found Gold's Queensway project PEA outlines C$155 million in initial capital expenditure, with an Environmental Assessment (EA) application planned for submission in the second quarter of 2026, a milestone that will directly determine the construction timeline. Investors will scrutinise the financing structure to evaluate dilution risk and balance sheet strength as the company moves toward a construction decision.

Boyle describes the mandate that shaped the company's shift toward cash flow generation:

"When I looked at the project when I was hired, it was: we've been exploring now for five years, we drilled over 600,000 metres, it's time to get the cash flow. That's what I was asked and told, that's the brief."

The company has already begun its transition to producer at the Hammerdown Gold Project, which achieved its first gold pour in November 2025 and is ramping toward steady-state production through 2026. Operational performance during this stage will significantly influence investor confidence in management's ability to execute future, more capital-intensive projects.

Andrew Furey: Policy Experience & Governance Mandate

Dr. Andrew Furey joined New Found Gold as an Independent Director in 2025, serving as Chair of the Governance and Sustainability Committee and sitting on the Nominating and Compensation Committee, with oversight responsibilities spanning regulatory compliance, corporate governance frameworks, and sustainability policies. 

He previously served as Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, where he chaired the Canadian Atlantic Premiers organisation in both 2020 and 2024 and negotiated large-scale economic agreements, including a $5.2 billion federal rate mitigation agreement and a new $227 billion memorandum of understanding with the province of Québec. This experience managing complex, multi-party agreements involving provincial and federal government stakeholders is directly relevant to the permitting and financing environment New Found Gold is navigating.

Beyond public office, Furey is an orthopaedic surgeon and founder of Team Broken Earth, a medical charity through which he coordinated a volunteer network of more than 1,000 professionals. That organisational mandate required logistics capability, governance oversight, and resource coordination across a large, distributed team. These competencies are transferable to the operational complexity of advancing a multi-asset mining development programme.

Financial Sector Connections & National Banking Leadership

Furey holds the role of Vice Chair at National Bank of Canada, one of Canada's six systemically important banks, alongside his board responsibilities at New Found Gold. His mandate includes expanding the bank’s business development activities and strengthening relationships across Canada, with a particular focus on Atlantic Canada. National Bank’s strategic emphasis on Atlantic Canada suggests an effort to increase lending, infrastructure financing, and corporate banking relationships in the region. For resource projects located in Atlantic Canada, the intersection of regional economic development and established banking relationships can influence access to capital and the structuring of financing packages.

While board roles do not directly determine project financing outcomes, they provide strategic insight into capital markets dynamics and investor expectations. This broader financial ecosystem perspective may prove relevant as New Found Gold evaluates the optimal financing structure for the C$155 million initial capital requirement at Queensway.

The Investment Thesis for New Found Gold

• Dr. Andrew Furey's appointment as Vice Chair of the National Bank of Canada, one of Canada's six systemically important banks, positions New Found Gold's board at the intersection of regional economic policy and institutional capital markets at a critical financing stage.
• The board composition, including a former Premier with direct experience negotiating a $5.2 billion federal rate mitigation agreement and a new $227 billion memorandum of understanding with the province of Québec, provides governance oversight directly relevant to the Environmental Assessment submission planned for the second quarter of 2026 and the C$155 million Phase 1 financing decision.
• Newfoundland and Labrador is consistently ranked as a top mining region by the Fraser Institute, and board-level familiarity with the province's regulatory and policy environment may reduce execution risk across permitting and infrastructure milestones.
• Queensway hosts 1.39 million ounces indicated and 0.61 million ounces inferred gold resources, with a preliminary economic assessment outlining all-in sustaining costs of US$1,256 per ounce and an after-tax net present value at a 5% discount rate of C$743 million at a gold price of US$2,500 per ounce, project economics that justify the governance investment being made at the board level.
• Hammerdown achieved its first gold pour in November 2025 and is expected to generate C$243.3 million in after-tax free cash flow, providing near-term cash generation to support Queensway's development financing requirements while management credibility is being established through operational execution.

As New Found Gold advances toward the Environmental Assessment submission at Queensway, resolves its C$155 million Phase 1 financing structure, and ramps Hammerdown toward steady-state production through 2026, the depth of its governance network spanning public policy, institutional finance, and mining operations may prove as consequential to investment outcomes as the project economics themselves.

TL;DR

New Found Gold's board is strengthened by Andrew Furey, a former Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador and newly appointed Vice Chair of the National Bank of Canada, at a critical stage as the company transitions to being a multi-asset Canadian gold producer. Hammerdown achieved its first gold pour in November 2025, while Queensway's PEA outlines an after-tax NPV5% of C$743 million, and the EA application is planned for the second quarter of 2026.

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