New Found Gold (TSX: NFGC) has more than doubled the projected value of its Queensway gold project in Newfoundland, releasing a revised preliminary economic assessment that pegs the project’s after-tax net present value at C$1.73 billion.
The figure, calculated at a 5% discount rate, comes with an after-tax internal rate of return of 126% and a payback period of less than 1 year. The base case assumes gold at US$3,600 per ounce and an exchange rate of 1.39. At US$4,100 gold, the NPV rises to C$2.23 billion and the IRR to 164%.
The original study, released in July 2025 using a US$2,500 gold price, comparatively delivered an after-tax NPV of $743 million and an IRR of 56.3%.
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The revised plan outlines a 15 year open pit and underground operation producing 1.74 million ounces of gold, averaging 116,000 ounces a year and peaking at 190,000 ounces in 2032. Phase 1 will truck high grade open pit material averaging 13.41 g/t gold to the company’s own Pine Cove mill at 700 tonnes per day starting in the fourth quarter of 2027. A new 4,900 tonne per day mill at Queensway takes over in 2031 and is slated to expand to 7,000 tonnes per day in Phase 3. Recoveries are projected at 91.5% over a life of mine head grade of 2.09 g/t gold.
Initial capital is pegged at $149.8 million, essentially unchanged from the $155 million in the earlier study. Growth capital climbed to $832.1 million from $442 million, reflecting the revised processing design, while sustaining capital totals $970.8 million. Cash costs are estimated at US$985 per ounce, with all in sustaining costs of US$1,375 per ounce.
The quick turnaround reflects how much has changed at Queensway in 15 months. The study now processes Phase 1 material at Pine Cove rather than the third party Nugget Pond mill, adds the newly discovered Dropkick zone, and lifts underground ounces in the mine plan by 86% while pulling underground mining forward to Phase 2. It also rests on an updated resource that boosted measured and indicated ounces by 38% to 1.92 million ounces at 2.19 g/t gold.
“The revised PEA incorporates a significant amount of work completed at Queensway over the last year and a half,” said CEO Keith Boyle, adding that Phase 1 capital costs “remain in line with the earlier PEA.”
The company plans to submit its Environmental Preview Report in the fourth quarter of 2026, with permits and a mining lease expected through mid-2027. Contractor mobilization is targeted for the first quarter of 2027, followed by early works in the second quarter and the start of mining in the third quarter, ahead of first deliveries to Pine Cove late in the year.
New Found Gold last traded at $2.26 on the TSX.
