Interview with Keith Boyle, Director & CEO of New Found Gold
Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/new-found-gold-tsxnfg-construction-still-on-track-10918
Recording date: 14th August 2026
New Found Gold's transition from exploration company to emerging Newfoundland gold producer reached a milestone with its move to the TSX main board, a step CEO Keith Boyle frames as recognition of the company's operational progress over the past 18 months. The listing upgrade is intended to widen access to institutional capital and stock indices unavailable on the TSX Venture Exchange, with Boyle noting the company currently splits roughly 60% of trading volume on New York exchanges and 40% on the TSXV, and expects the TSX move to lift Canadian volume without reducing US liquidity.
Operationally, the company is running a two-track strategy. Hammerdown, a smaller open-pit gold mine acquired as part of the Maritime Resources transaction, is being ramped toward a 20,000-25,000 ounce annual run rate and is expected to be declared in commercial production within months. Boyle was explicit that Hammerdown was never intended to be a major cash generator - its purpose is to cover general and administrative costs and exploration spend, freeing the balance sheet to focus on the larger Queensway project.
Queensway itself is being built in phases rather than as a single large-scale mill, a decision Boyle said was made specifically to reduce the size of financing required at each stage. Phase one, a 700-tonne-per-day open pit feeding an expanded Pine Cove mill, is fully funded through to first ore delivery - targeted for the fourth quarter of next year - following a $220 million financing announced in April. The company expects production to climb toward 120,000-125,000 ounces annually by 2028 and 175,000-200,000 ounces from 2031, as later, larger phases come online.
A key near-term catalyst is the forthcoming updated mineral resource estimate and preliminary economic assessment for Queensway. Rather than moving straight to a feasibility study, the company is choosing to publish an updated PEA so investors can see the full multi-phase project, since phases two and three have not yet received enough infill drilling to be classified beyond inferred resources. Phase one, by contrast, has been de-risked through 5-by-5-metre grade control drilling and orders already placed for the mill conversion, which Boyle said supports a feasibility-level capital cost estimate for that portion of the project.
On exploration, New Found Gold is directing roughly 45% of its expanded 90,000-metre, $40-million-plus 2026 drill programme toward new discovery targets rather than infill - including strike extensions east of the high-grade core, ground picked up along the Appleton Fault from the November Exploits Discovery acquisition, and follow-up drilling at Pulse Pond/Greenwood Pond and Duder Lake. Boyle said per-ounce discovery costs have fallen from roughly $145 for the initial resource to below $100 currently, comparing favourably with M&A-driven ounce additions in the sector, which he put at $500-600 per ounce. For investors, the story combines a funded near-term production ramp with an aggressive, discovery-weighted exploration budget, and the updated Queensway study will be the next major data point to watch.
View New Found Gold's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/new-found-gold
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