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New Found Gold Corp.
New Found Gold Corp. is a high-grade gold explorer focused entirely on the Queensway Project in Newfoundland, led by Executive Chairman Collin Kettell.
New Found Gold Corp.
New Found Gold Corp. was incorporated in 2016 under the leadership of Collin Kettell, with Denis Laviolette serving as President during its early operational buildout. The company staked and acquired the Queensway Project, a 1,662-square-kilometer land package along the Appleton and JBP fault zones near Gander, Newfoundland — a region with known gold showings but limited systematic modern exploration. Kettell, a geologist and mining executive, structured the company as a pure exploration play, listing it on the TSX Venture Exchange in August 2020 to fund an aggressive drill campaign. The sole operational focus is the Queensway Project, where the company drills deep, high-grade gold intercepts along the Appleton Fault Zone. Key discoveries include the Keats, Lotto, and Iceberg zones, with standout drill results such as 92.86 g/t gold over 4.75 meters at Keats (per public record). New Found Gold operates as a single-project explorer, directing nearly all capital into diamond drilling — 84% of its total spending through 2024 was exploration-related. The company does not operate other assets, maintain production, or hold royalty portfolios. Fundraising has come through equity placements, including a 2022 C$130 million bought deal (per the company's filings), with cornerstone investor Palisades Goldcorp holding a significant stake. A tight leadership team runs operations from Vancouver and a site office in Gander. Kettell, as Executive Chairman, shares executive duties with COO Greg Matheson, while Eric Sprott — a prominent Canadian gold financier — held a 19.9% stake as of late 2023 filings. The project's scale and grade drew a C$15 million strategic investment from Goldcorp alum and mining investor Rob McEwen in 2020 (per public disclosures). The company reported roughly C$84 million in cumulative exploration deployment through the end of 2024, with no revenue, reflecting the junior-explorer model where shareholder capital funds the drill bit. The company's structural differentiator is its single-asset concentration on a Newfoundland discovery that challenged conventional geology models for the region. Newfoundland's gold potential was historically overlooked, leaving Kettell's team among the first to apply large-scale systematic drilling to the Appleton Fault Zone. The result is a high-grade, grassroots find in a safe jurisdiction with road access and proximity to port infrastructure. Unlike diversified royalty companies or multi-project juniors, New Found Gold is a binary bet on Queensway — a speculative exploration vehicle where each drill result moves the equity.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2016
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
Canada
City
Vancouver
Corporate office
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Additional offices
Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Principals
Collin Kettell
Executive Chairman
Greg Matheson
Chief Operating Officer
Vijay Mehta
Director
Denis Laviolette
Director, former President
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
What is the Queensway Project and why is it significant?
Queensway is a 1,662-square-kilometer mineral exploration project in central Newfoundland, along the Appleton and JBP fault zones. It gained attention when New Found Gold drilled a discovery hole in 2019 that returned 92.86 g/t gold over 4.75 meters at what became the Keats zone. The significance lies in the high grade and the fact that the region had seen limited modern exploration, making this a rare grassroots discovery in a first-world jurisdiction with road access and nearby port infrastructure.
Who runs investment and operational decisions at New Found Gold?
Executive Chairman Collin Kettell and COO Greg Matheson lead the company. Kettell is a geologist and mining executive who assembled the Queensway land package. The board includes mining sector veteran Vijay Mehta. Strategic investors like Eric Sprott and Rob McEwen hold material stakes but do not run day-to-day operations. All strategic decisions — drilling targets, capital raises, and corporate structure — run through Kettell and the Vancouver-based management team.
How is New Found Gold funded, and does it generate cash flow?
New Found Gold has no revenue and no producing assets. It funds exploration through equity raises. The company completed a C$130 million bought deal in 2022 and a C$56 million private placement in March 2024 (per company filings). Major investors include Eric Sprott, Palisades Goldcorp, and Rob McEwen. This is a standard junior-explorer model: shareholder capital pays for drilling until a resource can be defined, at which point the company may seek a partner, sell, or develop the asset.
Does New Found Gold operate any assets beyond the Queensway Project?
No. Queensway is the company's sole material asset. New Found Gold has staked additional claims in the area to consolidate the land package, but there are no secondary projects, producing mines, or royalty streams. The company's entire value proposition is tied to exploration success along the Appleton Fault Zone.
What is the investment thesis behind a single-asset gold explorer?
The thesis is that Queensway may host a multi-million-ounce, high-grade gold deposit in a stable jurisdiction where modern exploration was historically underfunded. Success would likely trigger a buyout by a major gold producer or a joint venture to fund mine development. The risk is execution and geology: grades can be erratic, and a single-project company is entirely dependent on continued drilling success to maintain its valuation.
How is New Found Gold different from a royalty or streaming company?
New Found Gold is a pure exploration company. Royalty and streaming companies like Franco-Nevada or Wheaton Precious Metals provide upfront capital to operators in exchange for a percentage of future production. New Found Gold does not hold royalties, does not finance other operators, and derives all potential value from discovering gold on its own ground, which it would then need to develop or sell.
What role does Eric Sprott play in New Found Gold?
Eric Sprott is a Canadian billionaire and precious-metals investor who holds a significant equity stake in the company — approximately 19.9% as of late 2023 filings (per public record). Sprott is a passive financial investor, not an officer or director, but his involvement brings credibility and often signals to the retail gold-investor market that a junior explorer has high-grade discovery potential.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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