New Found Intercepts 41.2 g/t Au over 4.75 m and 25.4 g/t Au over 5.15 m in New High-Grade Discovery at the Lotto Zone, Located 2 km North of the High-Grade Keats Discovery, Queensway Project, Newfoundland

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 2, 2020) - New Found Gold Corp. (TSXV: NFG) ("New Found" or the "Company") is pleased to announce results from NFGC-20-17, the first drill hole targeting the Lotto Zone ("Lotto") as part of New Found's recently commenced 100,000 m diamond drill program at its 100% owned Queensway High-Grade Gold Project ("Queensway"), 15 km west of Gander, Newfoundland.

Highlights

• Two separate near surface, intervals of intense quartz veining with significant sulfide and visible gold were assayed on a rush basis and returned 41.2 g/t Au over 4.75m starting at 35 m down hole depth and 25.4 g/t Au over 5.15 m starting at 57 m down hole depth (see Figure 1). The orientation of these veins is uncertain and true widths may vary from 50% to 80%.
• Similar to the high-grade gold mineralization at Keats, the high-grade gold mineralization at Lotto displays characteristics suggestive of an epizonal orogenic depositional environment.
• The Lotto Zone is situated along a secondary structure occurring along the east side of the Appleton fault approximately 2 km north of the high-grade Keats Zone ("Keats"), site of New Found's initial high-grade gold discovery at Queensway (see Figure 2).
• In addition to the two reported near surface high grade intervals with visible gold, NFGC-20-17 also intersected three other zones of quartz veining and sulphide mineralization within wider structurally deformed corridors. One of these was intersected at approximately 160 m down hole depth. At the Appleton fault itself two intervals of quartz veining and sulphide mineralization were intersected, one on the hangingwall and one on the footwall of an approximately 30 m wide zone (279 m to 308 m hole depth) of fault related fracturing and alteration.
• Assays are pending for the balance of NFGC-20-17 including for all these new intervals of quartz veining and sulfide mineralization.

Greg Matheson, P.Geo., Chief Operating Officer of New Found, stated: "We are delighted to encounter such impressive high-grade gold intervals in our first hole at the Lotto Zone. Hole NFGC-20-17 provides our first full geologic profile through the host stratigraphy on the east side of the Appleton fault. It is encouraging and exciting that at such an early stage in our exploration program, we now have two high-grade gold discoveries approximately 2 km apart yet within the same structural regime along the east side of the Appleton Fault Zone, with both areas demonstrating characteristics of epizonal style high-grade gold emplacement."

*The true width of mineralization is estimated to be 50-80%

Figure 1. Hole NFGC-20-17, Lotto Zone

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Figure 2. Targets in the Keats to Lotto Corridor, Appleton Fault Zone

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Photo 1. Lotto Hole NFGC-20-17 at 36 m depth

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Photo 2. Lotto Hole NFGC-20-17 at 61 m depth

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Discussion

At Keats the primary high-grade target occurs along the Keats Baseline fault, a secondary structure which parallels the Appleton fault situated approximately 200 m east of the main Appleton fault. Similarly, these new high-grade intercepts at Lotto appear to be in structures paralleling the Appleton fault on the east side with a similar offset as at Keats. An IP geophysics survey shows a chargeability response that also parallels the Appleton fault between Keats and Lotto for approximately 2 km (and open), again offset to the east side. New Found's ongoing drilling program will continue to target this corridor east of the Appleton fault between Keats and Lotto, as part of its grid drilling program testing multiple targets along 5 km of the Appleton Fault Zone.

Drilling Summary

Three core drills are now active on the Queensway project. The first drill is working at Lotto and the second and third rigs are turning at Keats.

Two additional holes (NFGC-20-20 and NFGC-20-22 have now been completed at Lotto to follow up on NFGC-20-17 and a fourth hole (NFGC-20-24) is now being drilled. Prior to moving to the Lotto Zone, the first rig completed six holes at the Little-Powerline Zone on the west side of the Appleton fault (Figure 2) and assays are pending for these holes.

To date four holes (NFGC-20-18,19,21,23) have been completed at Keats and an additional two holes (NFGC 20-25 and NFGC-20-26) are now underway. Assays from Keats are currently pending with the laboratory and the Company anticipates releasing initial results from Keats shortly.

Option Grant

New Found announces that it has granted stock options exercisable for a total of 25,000 common shares in the capital of the Company to a consultant of the Company. These stock options have an exercise price of $2.15 per option and expire on October 1, 2025. The options are governed by the terms and conditions of the Company's Amended and Restated Stock Option Plan. Following the grant of the stock options, the Company has a total of 14,020,000 stock options outstanding, representing approximately 9.87% of the outstanding common shares of the Company. This stock option grant is subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval.

Marketing Agreement

New Found is pleased to announce that it has retained Gold Standard Media LLC and affiliates ("GSM") to conduct marketing services for the Company. GSM is headed by Kenneth Ameduri, who manages a marketing team headquartered in Austin Texas. GSM has been successfully marketing public companies since 2010. The term of the agreement is for two years ending September 22, 2022. GSM has been paid US$15,000/month in advance for these services.

QA/QC

True widths of the new exploration intercepts reported in this press release have yet to be determined but are estimated to typically be 50%-80% of reported core lengths. Assays are uncut, and calculated intervals are reported over a minimum length of 2 metres using a lower cutoff of 1.0 g/t Au. All HQ split core assays reported were obtained by either whole sample metallic screen/fire assay or standard 30-gram fire-assaying with ICP finish at ALS Minerals in Vancouver, British Columbia. The whole sample metallic screen assay method is selected by the geologist when samples contain coarse gold or any samples displaying gold initial fire assay values greater than 1.0 g/t Au. Drill program design, Quality Assurance/Quality Control and interpretation of results is performed by qualified persons employing a Quality Assurance/Quality Control program consistent with National Instrument 43-101 and industry best practices. Standards and blanks are included with every 20 samples for Quality Assurance/Quality Control purposes by the Company as well as the lab. Approximately 5% of sample pulps are sent to secondary laboratories for check assays.

Qualified Person

The technical content disclosed in this press release was reviewed and approved by Greg Matheson, P.Geo., Chief Operating Officer and a Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument 43-101.

About New Found Gold Corp

New Found holds a 100% interest in the Queensway Project, located 15 km west of Gander, Newfoundland, and just 18 km from Gander International Airport. The project is intersected by the Trans-Canada Highway and has logging roads crosscutting the project, high voltage electric power lines running through the project area, and easy access to a highly skilled workforce. With working capital of approximately C$75 million the Company is well financed for aggressive exploration with an initial planned drill program of 100,000 meters. New Found has a proven capital markets and mining team with major shareholders include Palisades Goldcorp (33%), Eric Sprott (18%), Novo Resources (11%), Rob McEwen (7%), other institutional ownership (8%), and management, directors and insiders (4%). Approximately 65% of the Company's issued and outstanding shares are subject to escrow or 180-day lock up agreements.

Please see the Company's website at www.newfoundgold.ca and the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

Acknowledgments

New Found acknowledges the financial support of the Junior Exploration Assistance Program, Department of Natural Resources, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Contact

To contact the Company please visit the Company's website, www.newfoundgold.ca and make your request through our investor inquiry form. Our management has a pledge to be in touch with any investor inquiries within 24 hours.

New Found Gold Corp.

Per: "Craig Roberts"
Craig Roberts, P.Eng., Chief Executive Officer
Email: croberts@newfoundgold.ca

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statement Cautions:

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, relating to further the exploration and drilling on the Company's Queensway gold project in Newfoundland. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "aims," "potential," "goal," "objective," "prospective," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "can," "could" or "should" occur, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions that Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause future results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include risks associated possible accidents and other risks associated with mineral exploration operations, the risk that the Company will encounter unanticipated geological factors, the possibility that the Company may not be able to secure permitting and other governmental clearances necessary to carry out the Company's exploration plans, the risk that the Company will not be able to raise sufficient funds to carry out its business plans, and the risk of political uncertainties and regulatory or legal changes that might interfere with the Company's business and prospects. The reader is urged to refer to the Company's reports, publicly available through the Canadian Securities Administrators' System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects.

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