New Found Gold's Revised Queensway Study Projects Payback Under 1 Year at US$3,600 Gold

• The revised preliminary economic assessment projects an after-tax net present value at a 5% discount rate of C$1.728 billion for Queensway at US$3,600 per ounce of gold, rising to C$2.225 billion at US$4,100.
• Internal rate of return reaches 126% at US$3,600 per ounce, with payback in less than 1 year on C$149.8 million of initial capital.
• Measured and Indicated resources grew 38% to 1.920 million ounces of gold with the addition of the Dropkick Zone, while Inferred resources held at 606,000 ounces.
• New Found Gold held approximately C$167 million in cash as of September 30, 2026, and has a further C$35 million debt facility available, with Phase 1 cash flow planned to fund Phase 2 growth capital.
• Mining is targeting a start in the third quarter of 2027, pending permits, with first mineralized material delivered to the Pine Cove mill in the fourth quarter of 2027.

Company Overview

New Found Gold (TSX: NFGC | NYSE American: NFGC) is an emerging Canadian gold producer with assets in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The company holds a 100% interest in its fully funded flagship Queensway Gold Project and the Hammerdown Gold Project, which includes the Hammerdown deposit and the Pine Cove milling and tailings facilities. With commercial production now declared at Hammerdown, New Found Gold is advancing Queensway toward Phase 1 production, supported by a district-scale land package at Queensway covering more than 110 kilometers of strike across two fault zones and a shareholder base that includes Eric Sprott.

Revised Study Values Queensway at C$1.728 Billion After Tax

New Found Gold announced a revised preliminary economic assessment (PEA) and an updated mineral resource estimate (MRE) for Queensway on October 22, 2026. At a base case gold price of US$3,600 per ounce and an exchange rate of 1.39 (C$: US$), the PEA projects an after-tax net present value at a 5% discount rate (NPV5%) of C$1.728 billion and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 126%. At US$4,100 per ounce, NPV5% rises to C$2.225 billion and IRR to 164%. The base case also projects:

• Production of 1.744 million ounces of gold over a 15-year life of mine (LOM), averaging 116,000 ounces per year and peaking at 190,000 ounces in 2032.
• Cumulative after-tax cash flow of C$2.551 billion over the LOM, including C$836 million from Phase 1, with average annual after-tax cash flow of C$170 million.
• Payback of the C$149.8 million initial capital in less than 1 year, based on Phase 1 average annual after-tax operating cash flow of C$279 million.
• Cash cost of US$985 per ounce and all-in sustaining cost of US$1,375 per ounce.
• Average head grade of 13.41 grams per tonne (g/t) gold in Phase 1 and 2.09 g/t gold over the LOM, with LOM recovery of 91.5%.

The phased structure and in-pit tailings deposition carry over from the 2025 PEA. Phase 1 milling moves to the company's 100%-owned Pine Cove mill from the idle third-party Nugget Pond mill. Initial mining will use a contractor before transitioning to owner mining. Underground ounces in the mine plan rise 86%, and underground mining moves forward from Phase 3 to Phase 2. The strip ratio increases from 6.0 to 6.5 after adding geotechnical studies.

Chief Executive Officer of New Found Gold, Keith Boyle, tied the carbon-in-leach (CIL) circuit at Pine Cove, the larger underground plan and the Phase 2 mill expansion to onsite recoveries:

“Collectively, these changes significantly improve onsite LOM recoveries, increase the doré poured on site and reduce smelter penalties.”

Phased Mine Plan & Processing Design

Phase 1 is targeting the start of milling in the fourth quarter of 2027 at 700 tons per day (tpd) at Pine Cove, which is being converted to a gravity-CIL circuit. Phase 1 mills open pit material from the Keats and Iceberg deposits at Pine Cove. High-grade material is crushed at Queensway and trucked 275 kilometers to Pine Cove until the end of 2030, with estimated doré recovery of 94%. From 2031, Phase 2 moves processing to a new 4,900 tpd Queensway Mill with 2 parallel circuits: a 2,000 tpd gravity-CIL circuit for high-grade material at 92% recovery and a 2,900 tpd gravity-flotation circuit for low-grade and refractory material at 88% recovery. Phase 3 expands the flotation circuit to 5,000 tpd from 2033, for a total mill capacity of 7,000 tpd. Over the LOM, 85% of the gold is projected to report to doré and 15% to gold concentrate.

The open pit plan covers 21 pits, with Iceberg, Keats, and Keats West sequenced early and later used for in-pit tailings deposition, which is projected to hold approximately 28.8 million tons of tailings. The pits deliver 26.4 million tons at an average diluted grade of 1.74 g/t gold for 1,479,000 ounces, at an overall strip ratio of 6.5:1. Underground mining from 2030 to 2039 across 5 zones delivers 1.9 million tons at 6.85 g/t for 427,000 ounces. Contractor mining covers the first 2 years of production, followed by a transition to an owner-operated fleet over the next 2 years.

Of the gold ounces in the mine plan, 1% are Measured, 80% Indicated, and 19% Inferred. Phase 1 is 97% Measured and Indicated (M&I). The PEA is preliminary, includes Inferred Mineral Resources considered too speculative geologically to be categorized as Mineral Reserves, and no Mineral Reserves are defined for Queensway. The company is conducting infill drilling to convert Inferred resources to Indicated.

Capital Costs

Initial capital of C$149.8 million, in line with the previous estimate, funds a 700 tpd mine with off-site milling. It covers site clearing, road construction, the sound berm, water management, and buildings. Growth and sustaining capital over the LOM are:

• Phase 2 growth capital of C$645.8 million for the 4,900 tpd Queensway Mill, a permanent crushing plant, preparation of the Iceberg pit for in-pit tailings, and underground development.
• Phase 3 growth capital of C$186.3 million, including C$105.4 million to expand the mill to 7,000 tpd and ramp access to the fourth underground deposit.
• Sustaining capital of C$970.8 million for capitalized stripping, underground development, fleet purchases and leases, tailings expansion and closure.

Total growth capital of C$832.1 million is higher mainly because the scope now includes a CIL circuit at Pine Cove and an in-pit tailings facility. Sustaining capital is higher mainly because of additional underground development that lifts underground ounces in the mine plan. Royalties assume 0.42% of net smelter return.

Funding & Taxes

New Found Gold held approximately C$167 million in cash and cash equivalents as of September 30, 2026. A further C$35 million debt facility is available until May 15, 2027, subject to conditions precedent. The company also cites potential proceeds from warrants expiring in 2027 and cash flow from Hammerdown through 2027, and states it is fully funded for initial capital. Phase 2 growth capital, spent in 2028 to 2029, is planned to be funded from Phase 1 cash flow, and Phase 3 growth capital, spent in 2030 to 2031, from Phase 2 cash flow, at an average gold price of US$3,600 per ounce.

The base case effective tax rate is approximately 40%. Taxes include federal corporate income tax of 15%, provincial corporate income tax of 15% in Newfoundland and Labrador and 11.5% in Ontario as applicable, and Newfoundland and Labrador mining tax of approximately 16% of net mining profits. The Canadian government announced a proposed productivity mega deduction on September 15, 2026, which would accelerate tax deductions and defer tax payments while leaving total LOM tax payments substantially the same. The company may realize a net asset value increase of C$60 million to C$70 million over the LOM and does not currently view the impact as material to Queensway.

Updated Resource Estimate Adds the Dropkick Zone

The MRE, effective July 6, 2026, lifts the M&I Mineral Resource by 38%, or 528,000 ounces, to 1.920 million ounces of gold in 27.3 million tons at 2.19 g/t. The Inferred Mineral Resource is unchanged at 606,000 ounces in 12.5 million tons at 1.51 g/t. Open pit resources are reported within an optimized pit shell at a 0.30 g/t cut-off grade, and underground resources within mineable shapes at a 1.90 g/t cut-off grade.

Updated pit optimizations and the addition of Dropkick account for most of the growth. Drilling completed since the November 1, 2024 database cutoff, together with an updated geological model, accounts for approximately 20% of the global open pit mineral resource variance. New infill drilling confirmed the Inferred Mineral Resources at slightly lower grades and higher tonnage, and 2025 grade control drilling at Keats and Iceberg generally confirmed the continuity and grade of the high-grade core in the initial MRE.

The mine plan includes 82% of M&I ounces and 56% of Inferred ounces in the MRE, and 91% and 61% respectively at Dropkick. Most exploration drilling has targeted a 5-kilometer segment of the Appleton Fault Zone (AFZ) Core area, largely within the upper 250 meters, while the company controls approximately 110 kilometers of strike extent along the AFZ and the JBP Fault Zone.

Boyle linked the Dropkick Zone to the exploration upside across the land package:

“This recent discovery, which remains open along strike and at depth, demonstrates the camp-scale potential at Queensway. We have only begun to evaluate the 110 km of strike extent along two major fault zones.”

Permitting, Workforce & Technical Report

Queensway submitted its Phase 1 environmental registration on April 30, 2026, and it was registered on May 7, 2026, which began the provincial environmental assessment (EA) process. A July 3, 2026 decision letter required an Environmental Preview Report (EPR), and the company received EPR guidelines on September 2, 2026. New Found Gold is targeting EPR submission in the fourth quarter of 2026, followed by a 35-day review by the Environmental Assessment Committee and the public, and a decision within 45 days of submission, with a possible 14-day extension.

The EA covers the Keats, Iceberg, Dome and Jackpot open pits. Future pits, underground works and later phases, including processing expansions, will each need their own assessment, permitting and approvals. After release from the EA process, the company plans to work with the province on a Surface and Mining Lease through mid-2027.

Queensway is projected to create 530 new direct jobs in central Newfoundland over the LOM, including 410 at mining operations and 120 at the Queensway Mill. The company will file a technical report prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 on its website, SEDAR+, and EDGAR within 45 days of the October 22, 2026 announcement. Independent consultants who are qualified persons (QPs) prepared the PEA, effective October 19, 2026. Independent QP Christian Beaulieu, P.Geo., reviewed sample preparation, security, and analytical procedures through the February 28, 2026 database closure and found no material issues affecting data reliability.

Next Steps

The company is targeting EPR submission in the fourth quarter of 2026 and is conducting a 2026 drill program focused on de-risking, discovery and growth. Once the subsequent permits are received, the company is targeting these milestones:

• Contractor mobilization at Queensway is targeted for the first quarter of 2027.
• Early works at Queensway, including clearing, grubbing, overburden removal, the sound berm, site roads, and water management facilities, are targeted to begin in the second quarter of 2027.
• Mining is targeted to begin in the third quarter of 2027 to build a stockpile, pending receipt of all required permits, with delivery to Pine Cove starting in the fourth quarter of 2027.
• Expansion of Pine Cove to 1,400 tpd capacity is targeted for completion in the fourth quarter of 2027.

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