• New Found Gold has awards the EPCM (Engineering, Procurement, Construction Management) to advance its flagship Queensway project toward first production in late 2027
• The company plans to expand the Pine Cove mill to 1,400 tonnes per day by converting it from flotation to gravity-CIL circuit and paralleling it with equipment from the acquired Nugget Pond facility.
• New Found Gold is advancing 3 critical workstreams simultaneously: environmental assessment application (targeting submission this quarter), project financing with Cutfield Freeman, and detailed engineering.
• The environmental assessment process is independent of engineering work, with Stantec preparing the application using the same approach that secured Firefly Metals' approval in 45 days.
• The company maintains an integrated project team to coordinate permitting, financing, and engineering, positioning NFG to begin purchasing long-lead items following key milestone achievements.

New Found Gold has taken a significant step toward production at its flagship Queensway project in Newfoundland, awarding the engineering, procurement and construction management contract to WSP Canada. The appointment represents the culmination of a competitive selection process involving seven firms and marks the first major execution milestone in the company's phased development strategy towards its first gold pour.

According to CEO Keith Boyle, this approach allows the company to work collaboratively with WSP rather than transferring all project risk to the contractor at premium pricing.

"Having been on the contracting side, it's less expensive when you work together with a contractor than it is when you give them all the risk and they charge you the premium for it.", Boyle explained.

This decision reflects management's experience in project delivery and confidence in maintaining cost discipline through integrated execution.

WSP was selected based on relevant experience with similar mill expansion projects. The firm brings demonstrated capability in both engineering and construction management for the specific technical requirements of New Found Gold's development plan. The company evaluated proposals against criteria including technical expertise, project execution track record, and team composition, ultimately selecting WSP based on direct experience with comparable mill expansions.

Integrated Execution Approach Coordinates Multiple Workstreams

New Found Gold has structured its path to production around three parallel workstreams that must advance in coordination to meet the late 2027 timeline. The WSP engineering contract represents one of 3 critical components, alongside environmental permitting and project financing, that together comprise the execution framework for Queensway development.

COO Robert Assabgui serves as the integration point across these 3 workstreams, ensuring coordination between permitting, financing, and engineering activities. Jared Saunders, Vice President of Sustainability, is advancing the environmental assessment application with Stantec, the same firm that secured environmental approval for Firefly Metals in 45 days during 2025. New Found Gold expects to submit its environmental assessment application in the current quarter, initiating the regulatory review process that will determine the project's construction schedule.

This integrated approach allows New Found Gold to maintain schedule flexibility while managing the interdependencies between permitting timelines, financing commitments, and engineering deliverables.

The Mill Expansion Strategy

The Queensway development plan centers on expanding the Pine Cove mill to 1,400 tonnes per day capacity, doubling its current throughput while fundamentally changing its processing methodology. New Found Gold acquired both the Pine Cove and Nugget Pond facilities through its acquisition of Maritime Resources, providing the foundation infrastructure for Phase One development at Queensway.

The technical scope involves converting Pine Cove from its current 700-tonne-per-day grind-flotation-regrind-leach-Merrill-Crowe circuit to a full gravity-leach configuration matching the Nugget Pond design. Equipment from Nugget Pond will be relocated and integrated with supplementary equipment to create a parallel 700-tonne-per-day circuit, resulting in two independent processing trains operating simultaneously at the expanded facility. This configuration will allow separate processing of Queensway material while maintaining operational flexibility.

Pine Cove currently processes ore from the Hammerdown mine, which New Found Gold is ramping to steady-state production in the first half of 2026. The mill expansion engineering will account for the ongoing Hammerdown operations while designing the conversion and parallel circuit installation. This operational continuity requirement adds complexity to the engineering scope but allows New Found Gold to generate cash flow during the Queensway development period.

By converting to a processing method proven at Nugget Pond and appropriate for Queensway's high-grade gold mineralisation, New Found Gold optimise recoveries while leveraging existing permitted infrastructure rather than constructing an entirely new facility.

Owner Capability & External Expertise Balance

Boyle acknowledged that single-asset junior companies typically lack internal resources to execute major construction projects without external support.

"I've done a number of these at single asset type companies, small companies, you don't have enough wherewithal within the companies. You don't have the horsepower to be able to execute on something like this on your own, and so it would be foolish not to bring in the appropriate expertise.", Boyle explained.

The decision to engage WSP reflects this reality while maintaining meaningful owner involvement through the EPCM structure rather than full turnkey delivery. New Found Gold can leverage its management team's development experience while accessing WSP's engineering capacity and construction management capabilities. This balance aims to control costs through owner engagement while ensuring execution quality through proven external expertise.

WSP commenced preliminary work before year-end and has established full engagement in early 2026, positioning the engineering program to deliver on the schedule required for late 2027 production. The firm's early mobilization allows integration with New Found Gold's permitting and financing timelines, creating the coordination necessary for sequential milestone achievement.

Interview Chief Executive Officer, Keith Boyle

Technical Scope & Schedule Management

WSP's scope encompasses detailed engineering for both the mill expansion and mine development at Queensway, along with procurement package preparation and construction management services. The engineering phase will generate the technical specifications required for long-lead equipment procurement, which represents the next critical milestone following environmental approval and financing commitment.

The construction management component functions similarly to general contracting in residential construction, with WSP coordinating subcontractors and managing construction execution based on the detailed engineering it produces. This integrated approach keeps technical responsibility with the firm that generated the engineering specifications, potentially reducing interface risk between design and construction phases.

New Found Gold maintains flexibility to optimize the project design as engineering advances and operational parameters become better defined. The EPCM structure allows course corrections if geology, costs, or sequencing factors change during detailed engineering, unlike fixed-price EPC contracts that typically limit scope modifications. This flexibility may prove valuable given that Queensway remains an exploration-stage asset with ongoing resource expansion potential that could influence optimal mine sequencing.

Broader Asset Portfolio Provides Diversification

While Queensway represents the company's flagship development project, New Found Gold maintains additional assets that provide near-term cash flow and exploration upside. The Hammerdown mine is ramping to steady-state production in the first half of 2026, generating revenue during the Queensway development period and potentially reducing external financing requirements.

An ongoing exploration programme continues to advance these earlier-stage opportunities, though current management focus centres on bringing Queensway into production and optimising Hammerdown operations. The successful Maritime Resources acquisition has provided New Found Gold with both producing assets and the infrastructure base for Queensway development, potentially reducing overall capital intensity relative to greenfield development scenarios.

The company plans to provide market updates on key advancement milestones throughout 2026 and into 2027, with particular focus on environmental assessment approval, financing commitment, long-lead equipment procurement, and early works permit acquisition. These milestones will serve as objective schedule verification points for investors evaluating execution risk.

The Investment Thesis for New Found Gold

• De-risked development pathway through infrastructure acquisition: The Maritime Resources acquisition provided permitted processing facilities and producing assets that reduce Queensway's capital requirements and development timeline compared to greenfield scenarios. Investors gain exposure to a development project with existing infrastructure, operating cash flow from Hammerdown, and proven processing technology.‍
• Experienced management executing proven development model: CEO Keith Boyle brings direct project development and contracting experience, informing the EPCM selection and integrated execution approach. The engagement of established firms (WSP for engineering, Stantec for environmental assessment, Cutfield Freeman for financing) demonstrates management's focus on execution quality over cost minimisation.‍‍
• ‍Near-term catalysts provide valuation inflection opportunities: Environmental assessment submission in Q1 2026, financing announcement, and long-lead equipment procurement represent sequential de-risking milestones over the next 12-18 months. Each milestone achievement should reduce perceived execution risk and potentially re-rate the company's valuation toward development-stage multiples.
• ‍Newfoundland jurisdiction offers permitting certainty: Stantec's 45-day environmental approval for Firefly Metals in 2025 demonstrates provincial commitment to mining development. New Found Gold's environmental assessment application benefits from this recent precedent and the province's established regulatory framework, reducing permitting timeline uncertainty.‍
• High-grade deposit economics support financing confidence: Management's reported strong interest from financing partners suggests commercial lenders and strategic investors view Queensway's economics favourably. The company's confidence in securing non-dilutive or minimally dilutive financing could preserve shareholder value through the construction phase.‍
• Production timeline creates two-year investment horizon: The late 2027 production target provides a defined timeline for investors to evaluate execution progress and exit or increase positions based on milestone achievement. Near-term producers in gold bull markets historically attract premium valuations as production commencement approaches.

Junior Gold Developers in Construction De-Risking Phase

The global gold sector is experiencing a structural shift in how development-stage projects advance toward production, with particular implications for junior companies navigating the transition from resource definition to construction execution. New Found Gold's appointment of WSP Canada exemplifies this evolving dynamic, where experienced management teams increasingly prioritise execution certainty over aggressive cost minimisation, recognising that project delays and scope changes during construction can erode far more value than premium engineering services cost.

This trend reflects lessons learned from the 2010-2015 development cycle, when numerous junior gold projects experienced significant cost overruns and schedule delays due to inadequate engineering, underestimated technical complexity, and insufficient construction management capability. The current generation of junior developers increasingly selects engineering firms based on relevant experience and integration capability rather than purely on cost, accepting higher upfront professional service expenditures to reduce downstream execution risk.

Newfoundland's track record of rapid environmental approvals for well-prepared applications creates schedule certainty that allows companies to invest in detailed engineering before receiving final permits, confident that approval timelines are manageable. This contrasts with jurisdictions where permitting uncertainty forces companies to delay engineering investment, creating compressed schedules once approvals are secured that increase execution risk.

The integration of acquired producing assets with development projects represents another structural trend that New Found Gold exemplifies. The Maritime Resources acquisition provided both near-term cash flow from Hammerdown and processing infrastructure for Queensway, demonstrating how junior companies can reduce financing requirements and de-risk development timelines through strategic consolidation. This approach may become increasingly common as junior developers seek to differentiate themselves in financing markets by demonstrating revenue generation capability alongside development advancement.\

TL;DR

New Found Gold has awarded the EPCM contract to WSP Canada for its flagship Queensway project, targeting first production in late 2027. The company is executing an integrated three-workstream strategy encompassing WSP's detailed engineering, environmental assessment submission (Q1 2026 via Stantec), and project financing structuring (via Cutfield Freeman). The development plan centres on expanding the acquired Pine Cove mill from 700 to 1,400 tonnes per day by converting it to a gravity-CIL circuit and adding a parallel processing train using relocated Nugget Pond equipment. WSP was selected from five proposals based on relevant mill expansion experience, while the EPCM structure allows collaborative execution rather than fixed-price risk transfer. COO Robert Assabgui coordinates the interdependent workstreams, with near-term milestones including environmental approval, financing commitment, and long-lead equipment procurement. The Hammerdown mine continues ramping to steady-state production in H1 2026, providing cash flow during Queensway development. Management's selection of established service providers (WSP, Stantec, Cutfield Freeman) and disciplined execution approach positions the company to achieve sequential de-risking milestones over the next 12-18 months, with each milestone potentially re-rating valuation toward production-stage multiples.

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